Tattered Blossom
by Bloodbeauty119
Summary: Weak, Useless, Annoying. Words to describe Sakura Haruno in her genin days. But what if that wasn't the case? What if a certain event changed Sakura early in her genin years? Well...A whole new attitude is like a whole new person. So just how will team 7's days pan out with a stronger Sakura? Lets find out shall we? -Rated T for gore- SasuSaku pairing
1. C1: The Incident

_Tap tap tap tap tap tap. _Loud footsteps could be heard pressing onto the stone road of Konoha, becoming faster as the person gained velocity. "Excuse me...Oops sorry" a voice apologized as they nearly rammed into a pedestrian. The voice came from an obviously excited girl. Her petal pink long hair whipped behind her with glee, green eyes sparkling and a goofy smile plastered to her face. A few people chuckled, knowing the young girl well and seeing the new, yet familiar, headband of a leaf shinobi plastered to her forehead. Sakura Haruno had done it...She'd become a ninja...

_Bang!_

"Mom! Mom I did it! I did it! I'm a ninja! And guess who's on my team?!" the rosette shouted with joy as she ran into the house. The lights were on and her parents were always home at this hour. She couldn't believe her new team had passed Kakashi's test. As much as she was disappointed in not finding out the trick of the test, teamwork, the emotion was ruled out with glee. She was a ninja now. Sakura peeked into the living room to find nobody. The pinkette furrowed her brows. Her parents usually greeted her when she got home. '_They're probably out shopping?_' she thought to herself as she headed towards the kitchen, knowing her mother would leave a note if that was the case. "Mom? Dad?" she called as she approached. She opened the door to the kitchen and froze dead in her tracks. All of her good news...or any news for that matter, was forgotten. There on the tile flooring. In a puddle of blood, lay Sakura's mother.

She was unable to move, unable to think. Sakura could only stare. She saw the kitchen knife sticking out of her mother's back, the multiple stab wounds that oozed the very same crimson liquid that the body was soaking in. Sakura saw the trickle of blood running from her mother's mouth, the large bruise on her forehead, and the glazed over, unseeing look that could only come from a corpse. Mrs. Haruno's eyes portrayed exactly what she had felt in her last moments. Her eyes showed pain, fear, sadness, but most of all...Betrayal. They stared at Sakura, into her very being, the young girl knew she would never forget that look. Nor the dark green orbs that held it. Those eyes were burned into young Sakura's mind forever.

Then...she blinked. The trance of shock was broken, time resumed. "M-Mom!" Sakura screamed, scrambling over to the corpse. The young girl sank to her knees next to the body, covering the bottom of her dress and shorts with her mother's own life fluid. Tears streamed out of her eyes, clearing tiny spots in the thick liquid. Sakura picked her mother out of the puddle, placing the woman's head and shoulders onto her lap and further smearing herself with blood. Not that she cared, all she felt was pain. Who would do this? Why? Her mother was kind and caring, everybody liked her. What would possess a person to murder such a sweet woman...Or anyone, so gruesomely? "Mommy" Sakura sobbed, lowering her head to rest her forehead against her mother's. The traumatized girl rocked back and forth, cradling the cold body, it was cold...She'd been dead for a while. Somebody had to have broken in. Someone who had no concern for human life, some deranged lunatic who just up and decided to kill her innocent mother. Who could've done it? Her dad was always sure to keep the house locked up. He always kept the two of them sa-

Sakura's head snapped up '_Dad!_' she thought with widened teary eyes. If they got to mom, they would've had to go through him!

Gently moving her mother out of her lap, Sakura stood up. Her shoulders shaking from holding in sobs as she pulled out a kunai. If that person was still here, they wouldn't be getting out, she wouldn't let them, she'd kill them before they could. The flow of tears stopped as her eyes hardened and Sakura peaked once more into the living room before heading up the stairs. Her shoes leaving bloody footprints that seeped into the carpet eerily. It was all the young girl could do not to throw up thinking of whom the blood belonged to. Sakura silently crept up the stairs just as she'd been taught, without a sound and ready to strike. She had no idea how to fully mask her chakra but she did her best as she walked. A stair creaked and Sakura froze. That's when she heard the laughing. Laughing that sent a chill up her very spine, that horrified her to her core. A laugh that was familiar, yet somehow foreign...It was her dad's laugh...But she'd never heard it so hauntingly morbid before.

"Dad?" Sakura called out, her voice cracking as she did. She had to be hearing things, that wasn't her dad's laugh. Her mind was playing tricks on her because she was worried about him. She had to have warped whoever had broken in's voice to his. She didn't get the chance to finish assuring herself, within seconds heavy footsteps sped towards the hallway. The first door on the right burst open to reveal some sort of smiling lunatic. Sakura screamed. Not due to the terror that streaked her body, not due to the psychopath that could surely kill her. But due to finding that said psychopath, said murderer...Was no doubt her very own father.

Deep reddish hair tousled wildly with the momentum from the fast movement. Blood caked his body from torso to knees, concentrated around his hands... which held a blood stained kitchen knife...The sister of the very same knife that had been lodged in Mrs. Haruno's back. Looking at his face it held a wild, crazy expression. His mouth twisted into a smile that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame. His hazel eyes were wide and glazed over. No...Not glazed. Were those tears? Sakura took in her father's appearance in a matter of seconds before their eyes met. Mr. Haruno laughed again before charging directly at his daughter, his intent to kill all too apparent.

Sakura was unsure of what to do. She trembled and turned her knife to the side, keeping the sharp end away from her attacker. How could she just stab him? He was her dad. Daddy...The man that read to her every night. That kissed her forehead and helped mom with the dishes. He was the man that worked to earn his family their home, who laughed and smiled and was always happy. All Sakura saw as he rushed her were open arms, a warm smile and calm hazel eyes showing all the love the man held for his daughter. The idea that this man had killed his own spouse, his love, her mother, just didn't seem possible.

That illusion was broken quite quickly as she was forced to veer to the side. This caused Sakura to narrowly avoid the knife but allowed the larger man to ramm into her. The two Harunos fell backwards down the stairs. The pinkette gasped as her back hit the hardwood before her head made contact as well. Luckily momentum was on her side and flipped her father over her to receive the same damage. The two ended up on the floor, Sakura was dizzy yet figured her father would be as well...But then why was he standing above her? With that same crazed look crossing his face. "Daddy..?" Sakura breathed out, a new tear trailing down the side of her face. It was funny how she hadn't called either of her parents such childish names since she was little. But now, it just seemed to flow out. Her at her most desperate, at her most helpless. Her dad paused only a moment before the sneer grew larger. He placed his foot over her abdomen, keeping her pinned. "I killed her" he muttered with another laugh. "I killed her...I killed her" he said again, same smile plastered to his face as he ran a hand through his hair. Sakura watched as tears fell from her fathers eyes with each repeat of that sentence. Mr. Haruno's eyes locked onto her own horrified ones once more. "I killed her and now you'll die" he laughed, a very distinct droplet of salty water falling from his chin to her cheek.

It was all the poor girl could do not to close her eyes and try to wake up from this nightmare. The pounding in her back told her she couldn't possibly be asleep. This was all painfully real. "Dad...Why?" she asked, her voice shaking due to the combination of emotions she couldn't even begin to explain. Her father didn't respond, just stared down at her, hand shaking as he raised it. The knife came down, plunging into Sakura's left shoulder. Said girl cried out in pain as the blade slipped between the plates in her shoulder, blood pooling at the dip in her collarbone. Her vision blurred with what seemed to be a constant flow of tears. The pain from the knife was great. But having it inflicted on you by someone you trusted, somebody you spent your life with, somebody you loved...That made it all the worse.

The knife was wretched out of her shoulder, red liquid gleaming in the last hours of daylight through the window. Sakura watched as Mr. Haruno raised the blade again. This time she did close her eye memories washing over her in what she assumed would be her final minutes.

_"Daddy! You're home, you're home"_

_"Haha Sakura it's only been three days"_

_"But you're always going out on adventures and leaving me here"_

_"They aren't really adventures sweetie. It's Daddy's job"_

_"Why does your job keep you from home?"_

_"Because people in other lands want to buy our wares. We travel there so they can have our nice things"_

_"Can't somebody else take it to them?"_

_"No sweetie, it's my duty"_

_"As long as your duty brings you back to me, okay?"_

_"Heh...Okay"_

_"Yay! Love you Daddy"_

_"Love you too..."_

How could this even be her dad? It was like some maniac had taken his form.

_"But Mooom, I don't wanna stay at Ino's"_

_"Please Sakura. Me and your father haven't had a night out in a long long time"_

_"You can still have one. I'll go too and we'll have tons of fun"_

_"Sweetie. As much as Mommy and Daddy love you, we want some time alone. It's a big day today"_

_"What day is it?"_

_"It's the day me and Daddy got married, eight years ago"_

_"Ooooh, so you're going to celebrate your marriage?"_

_"Yes, something like that. I think your Daddy's taking me somewhere special for dinner. If I can, I'll bring you back dessert okay?"_

_"Yayyyy! I'll go pack for Ino's!"_

The memory faded, a new one emerging. The picture of the lifeless body of Mrs. Haruno laying on the kitchen floor. Wide open eyes filled with pain and betrayal. The body that was still laying in there. The body of her mommy...Who's blood mixed with her own to stain her clothing. Who her father had violently murdered. Who was going to kill her as well...'_No!_'

_Shulk!_

Eyes widened, blood streamed down a torso. Sakura stared up at her father as he froze. the man looked confused until he looked down to see a kunai sticking out of the left side of his chest. Sakura watched as the kitchen knife dropped from his hand, clattering to the floor beside her. She watched as his arms went limp and his eyes drained to a dull brown, the wild look dimming with it. Her father swayed a bit, head down against his chest now, before falling on top of her. Sakura stiffened, eyes wide. She could feel his blood dripping onto her. The blood from his wound. The wound _she'd_ inflicted. The wound that had _killed_ her father.

Sakura felt numb, staring at the ceiling as she took everything in. Her mom was dead in the kitchen...She'd been killed by her dad...Her dad whom had tried to kill her too...but...she'd killed him first...And now she was covered in a combination of their blood. She had no parents...Her parents were dead...She had no parents! Sakura Haruno, broke.

An ear splitting scream escaped her throat as she thrashed under the body of her father, his much larger form pinning her to the ground. Her face was streaked with tears yet no more would fall, she'd cried herself out. So she sat there and wailed, she screamed as if she were on fire. She had to get out of here, had to get away from him, had to get away from the bodies.

The young girl's prayers were answered when she heard the front door open. She stopped screaming on instinct, trying to hear who it was. "Sakura? We heard you scream...Are you okay?" a sweet feminine voice called out. It was Yin. Sakura's neighbor. She was also a civilian and probably somebody you wouldn't want to subject to gore such as this but Sakura wasn't particularly thinking about others as the heat began to fade from the body on top of her. "Y-Yin!" she called out in desperation. "The living room" Sakura heard the woman talking to somebody. It had to be Kazuma, Yin's husband. Of course such a petite woman wouldn't come to investigate screams without somebody to help her. Sakura heard footsteps nearing the doorway and turned her head. She watched as Kazuma walked to the door frame, a fire poker in hand for defense and his wife peaking over his shoulder. That was when they saw her as well. "Oh my dear Kami" the pinkette heard Yin breathe in pure horror as the metal poker hit the ground echoed around the room.

It seemed like the couple was frozen, eyes glued to Sakura's tear and blood drenched form and the corpse on top of her. Sakura couldn't blame them. They'd walked into a homicide...A gruesome one at that, and one that involved people they knew. Yin had tears in her eyes, Kazuma, a look of utter shock. His now empty hand shaking in horror. Sakura whimpered, the noise seemed to snape them out of it as Kazuma rushed over. He grabbed the body's shoulder and pushed it off to the side taking the weight off of the small girl underneath. "Yin. Go find a shinobi...Hell, go get the hokage!" he ordered, trying to keep his voice even with no luck. Yin didn't need to be told twice as she dashed out the door. Kazuma looked back down at the tattered girl "Sakura, it's okay. It's going to be okay" he tried, bringing his hand to the wound on her shoulder and pressing down to attempt to stop the bleeding. Sakura looked up at his worry filled eyes...She knew he was lying. It wasn't going to be okay. But she was alive. That's all she thought as a wave of drowsiness washed over her. The new konichi gladly sank into the darkness. What a first day this was.


	2. C2: Finding Interest

**Hey all! Well, here's my next chapter. I'm thinking about maybe switching character points with each chapter. Sakura as the main focus of the first and then Sasuke. Obviously it's not their point of view as this is a third person story but I'd only let you in on Sakura's thoughts and feelings in her chapters and Sasuke's in others. What do you all think about that? Or of course. I could just follow whoever seemed fit for the chapter and have no pattern. Or switch throughout when I seemed fit. Or just describe whoever's thoughts and emotions I wanted at any time. Help me out here!...Please.**

**Ah and as of now, the votes for side pairings are:**

**GaaSaku- 3**

**KibaSaku- 0**

**NejiSaku- 1**

**As for other pairings you may be looking for. I tend to like ShikaTema, NaruHina, TenLee (I know it sounds like a weird pairing but I've got some pretty good reasoning behind them. I'll explain after the chapter) and then, predictibly, Sasusaku. I also enjoy a bit of one sided NejiTen (Tenten being the side), one sided SasoSaku (Being Sasori) and of course a man whore has to be added in and Genma is my man. You'll be seeing some underlyings of these relationships as well as ones you all know and love such as the one sided NaruHina, the one sided LeeSaku and the one sided OroSasu -insert winking face-.**

**Sakura is kind've my favorite female character (non-canon or Shippuden personality) mostly because of her ties and her bad ass powers. I like to whore her around a little bit. My favorites being DeiSaku, GaaSaku and KibaSaku apart from Sasusaku. I don't even really like Sasuke that much. He's a dick (come at me fangirls) and she should've gotten over him way before he tried to kill her instead of relapsing into a lovesick puppy at the sight of him. But there's just so much to work with in their relationship, I was just bursting with ideas. And so, the story was born.**

**I think that's enough plans and background for now. What do you say we get on with it?**

* * *

**Tattered Blossom**

**'Finding Interest'**

_"Brother, Why?"  
__"To test my ability..."  
_Onyx eyes shot open as a young, raven haired boy shot up in his bed. Sasuke Uchiha took deep breaths, trying to calm his hyperactivly beating heart. He lifted his hand to wipe the sweat off his brow when he noticed his hand was shaking. The Uchiha glared at the offending appendage as if it were the reason he was in a panic. Staring hard at his fingers, Sasuke willed the reactive trembling to fade away before running a hand through his disheveled hair. It had been years since the massacre. Years since his own ani took the lives of not only his parents, but every last person in his clan. Yet, the memory was fresh...Always fresh. And always effecting him like this in his dreams nightmares. The young boy clenched his fists, resenting his weakness.

Sasuke looked at the clock, 3:43. He still had nearly two hours before he had to meet with the rest of his 'team'...If you could even call them that. Sasuke couldn't stand his luck. Not only was he put with useless, annoying, fangirl Sakura-at least she had some brains on her side-but with dead last, idiot Naruto as well. He wouldn't have minded Shikamaru, maybe even dog boy Kiba. But Naruto?! Somebody had to have been playing tricks on him. And of course Sakura. Of course she'd be put with him. Did she even want to be a ninja? It seemed all of her efforts were fixed on pining after him. She would've been last on the list of girls he'd be okay with dealing with if it wasn't for Ino. He guessed she had that going for her...She wasn't Ino.

With a sigh, the young Uchiha threw back the covers and got to his feet. He knew he wouldn't be getting back to sleep tonight. So he might as well start his day. Hopefully Kakashi wouldn't be late again, he really wasn't in the mood for more of the smut-reading jonin's games. Walking into the bathroom and turning on the shower, Sasuke looked into the mirror. His eyes were somewhat bloodshot from the restless night and his skin glistened with a thin sheen of sweat. It had been over a weak since his last episode. The extra training had helped for a bit, exhausting him before he got home and leading him into a dreamless sleep. But it seemed that his method had only been a band-aid...One that had finally peeled off. The Uchiha turned around and entered his shower. Waking himself up and washing away all evidence of his weakness, of his fear. All that remained was anger, the need for vengeance and power. And that's exactly the mindset he needed to gain power and to finally avenge his clan. Itachi's head would be in his hands. Not today, not tomorrow. Heck...Probably not in the next year or so. But it would happen. Sasuke was a ninja now, and just one step closer to achieving his goal as an avenger.

The shower took a good fifteen minutes. Sasuke always stayed longer when he was deep in thought; and right now his mind was alight with thoughts of power, revenge, missions, and his new team. The young boy exited the bathroom, letting steam drift from the door frame before changing into his regular gear composed of white cargo shorts, a high collared blue shirt with the Uchiha crest sewn into the back and of course his weapons pouches. The unruly spikes that usually stood the back of his hair up were slightly weighed down by the excess water he hadn't bothered to dry off. Sasuke didn't really care though, he was never one for appearances. Despite all of his fangirls, he never tried making himself appealing. His brooding, quiet attitude was no girl-seeking ploy...It was just him.

With one last check to make sure he'd have all the supplies needed for the day, Sasuke left the Uchiha compound and headed to the training grounds.

* * *

The sun had just risen past the horizon as Sasuke wiped the sweat from his brow. The new day's sunlight glistened off of various thrown kunai that spread themselves across the field. Sasuke's knuckles were bleeding from testing strikes against trees along with his accuracy but it was a problem so often inflicted that the boy hardly registered the drying blood. He figured it was nearly six by now and started to gather up the kunai. He was always a punctual person...Considering what happened the last time he'd been late somewhere. The thought made him shiver as his mind turned to the previous night's dreams, Sasuke shook his head to clear the thoughts away once more. Once the boy was sure he'd collected each of his weapons he headed toward the bridge that Kakashi had told them to meet at.

The bridge was empty, which shouldn't be much of a surprise considering how early it was. But Sasuke knew it was nearing six and couldn't help but wonder where his new pink haired teammate may be. If he recalled correctly, she was in class early every day-minus when their teams were assigned due to some sort of fight win Ino-and always beat him. He guessed it was just odd not seeing her there first, but he shouldn't be expecting her to have the same tendencies as when she was in the academy. Heck, maybe she quit. She was quite useless yesterday during the bell test...She'd even fainted on him the one moment he might-might!-have required some young Uchiha shrugged to himself and leaned against the bridge, closing his eyes and clearing his mind in a sort of meditation. It wouldn't be long until she got here, and Naruto was sure to follow. Hopefully the dobe beat Kakashi. Sasuke would kill the kid if he wasted their time getting them punished for his tardiness. And hopefully Kakashi wasn't going to be making a habit of being hours late like he was for his test...That would just piss him off.

"Sasuke-teme!" It hadn't been fifteen minutes until the familiar voice of a certain blonde male rang across the bridge. Sasuke sighed slightly in annoyance, not opening his eyes as he heard Naruto's boisterous footsteps nearing him. "Hey...Where's Sakura-chan? She's always first to everything" he announced. Sasuke merely shrugged, again without sparing the blonde a glance. Naruto shot the ravonette a glare "Well I hope she gets here soon. I was running late, didn't leave til six-o-five" he continued. Sasuke's brows twitched slightly. That was actually quite odd. Did Sakura actually quit? If she did, what did that mean for him? Would the two boys be sent back to the academy for no longer having a three man cell? If they did...Boy Sakura was going to get it.

It took nearly two hours before Kakashi arrived. And Sasuke was seething. Not only did it seem Kakashi was going to be showing up late all the time. But he'd been stuck here with dead last the whole time. Sakura never showed up which left him to hear the blonde's ramblings. The dobe didn't know how to shut up. Not even when-not so kindly-told to. He just went in loops whether it be about beating him, becoming hokage, ramen and where Sakura may be. The identifiable poof was a blessing to the young genin's ears. "Kakashi-sensei you're late!" Naruto yelled, Sasuke finally cracked an eye open to send his new sensei a glare. Kakashi didn't respond as he'd done yesterday with some stupid excuse. The jonin looked tense, serious, it caused Sasuke to open his other eye and give Kakashi his full attention...Naruto on the other hand, did not seem to pick up on the mood. "We're going to have to wait though. Sakura's even later than you. You don't think she got sick do you? That would suck, today's our first mission after al-"  
"Sakura will not be joining us today Naruto." Kakashi cut the blonde off.  
"What? Why?"  
"She's dealing with some personal business at home" the jonin replied. Sasuke scowled a bit. Did pinky get in trouble and have a breakdown? He couldn't stand how bad the girl thought she had it. And to skip their first day of missions for some stupid problem? Did she even care about being a ninja?

"Personal business?" Naruto asked, tilting his head in confusion. "But Sakura's parents are so nice, did something happen to one of them?" Naruto knew that Sakura didn't have a clan and actually had no family outside of her home. He knew how close they all were and thought maybe her dad got into an accident or something. Sakura may not like him much, but Naruto had had enough time alone as a kid to get to know a bit about the life of the girl he was enamored with. "Something like that" Kakashi uttered before the passive look shifted back onto his face. "But how about we start our very first mission.?" Naruto's face lit up, thoughts of Sakura pushed out of his mind be excitement "A mission!" the boy cheered. Sasuke pushed away from the bridge, ready to be briefed. But to him, the situation was not forgotten. The jonin had been too serious for Sasuke's earlier belief of her crying over nothing again to be true. Something had happened that shook the girl up enough not to come. Maybe one of her parents were sick or something. He really didn't care...He was just curious what with Kakashi's sudden change in subject. It was like he was trying to distract them...

But that wasn't going to keep Sasuke from thinking about their very first mission. Finally, he'd be honing his skills to get a step closer to his revenge.

* * *

A cat...Mission one as a shinobi...Was getting a god damn cat! Sasuke marched away from the old lady's house. That cat was bound to run away as soon as they left anyway, what with how she was hugging it to death. The young Uchiha scowled. A D-rank mission he assumed would be easy. But a cat! All they'd had to do was track the thing down. The only mildly amusing part of the whole thing was how much the mangy thing hated Naruto. The kid still had scratch marks on his face from when Sasuke refused to pry the angry feline off. It had just seemed to have an obsession with attacking the orange clad ninja and Sasuke couldn't exactly argue with it.

Both he and Naruto had then gone to yet another old lady's house to pick her weeds. Of course, the dobe still found a way to screw that up. He'd announced he was going to beat Sasuke in picking all the weeds...As if he could beat him in anything...And then proceeded to tear up an entire patch of erbs. And so created yet another enemy for the blonde as the old lady tried to kill him. How in the world were these dumb missions going to make anybody into a stronger ninja? Especially someone who wanted to excel as fast as he did?

With a sigh, the Uchiha shoved his hands deep into his pockets. He didn't feel like going home...The compound was too empty, too eerie. And if he went to the training grounds now he was sure to run into some other team using them. He guessed he might as well go to the market, he hadn't bought food in a while anyway.

Now, Sasuke hadn't chosen the route he did because he knew Sakura's house was on the way. The road he'd taken was just the closest one and Sakura's happened to be on it. But what was the harm in giving the house a once over as he walked by? Nothing, it was just curiosity, he glanced at many houses as he walked by.

_"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Where are you going?" a small, green eyed, pink haired girl called as she ran up behind the Uchiha. The young boy sighed "None of your business Sakura. Why are you following me?" he snapped. He was tired of the girls today more than most days. They just wouldn't get off his back, the poor boy just wanted to buy some tomatos. Little Sakura's eyes widened a moment before she looked at her shoe bashfully, a blush adorning her face. "Uh...Actually Sasuke-kun...My house is on this street. We moved near the market so my dad could pick up supplies for his jo-" Sasuke had already started walking away again, missing the small glimmer of hurt that passed through the tiny girl's eyes. But the ever optimistic child shook it off and smiled "Bye Sasuke-kun" she called before walking after him a bit until she'd reached her house. Sasuke did peak over his shoulder as he'd heard her footsteps start to turn. She entered a small white house on the side of the road...Guess she was telling the truth after all._

The house looked somewhat...Different than when he'd last seen it. There were no lights on, all of the windows were open and it just looked...Gloomy, abandoned. The Uchiha furrowed his brows as he slowed his pace. Was the girl really that dumb to leave all of the windows open during the day? Somebody could easily break in. He told himself that was the reason he started approaching the building. It had nothing to do with the dark aura the entire place seemed to be giving off. Sasuke raised his hand to knock but hesitated a moment. What if Sakura thought he was here to see her? She'd spread it around the whole village that he came to speak to her at her house. Oh he'd never hear the end of it. Or what if she thought he came because he was worried. Not to scold her for her dangerous habits. No...It wasn't worth the risk. Sasuke turned around to leave but froze in step when the door opened.

The Uchiha turned back around only to meet the surprised eyes of a woman. She was petite with short brown hair that was pulled back into a nub of a ponytail. She had with her a bucket of soapy water and a canister of bleach. Sasuke could see the soap floating in the bucket. He looked back up at her quizzically. Did Sakura have a maid or something? The woman stared at him for a moment before seeing his leaf headband. Immediately her face turned red and she started to explain herself. "Gomen! Gomen! I know nobody's supposed to go inside. I just...I just wanted to clean up the mess before Sakura-chan got back" she stuttered. "I didn't realize that you weren't done with the scene" she bowed respectfully to Sasuke. Said boy raised an eyebrow. Okay, she was definitely a civilian if she was showing him so much respect. She must think that he held a lot more rank than he actually did. But what was she talking about? Why weren't people allowed in? Why was she calling the house a scene? "I hope I didn't mess up the investigation. I'd just hate for the carpets to forever be stained like that" she uttered again before seeming to notice Sasuke's confusion. "You...You're part of the investigation squad right? I didn't realize that anything had been missed...And didn't expect somebody so young"

Finally Sasuke decided to speak and break up this woman's utterly confusing ramblings. "I'm Sakura's teammate" he told her. Blunt and to the point as always. The woman flushed, dropping the bleach to bring her hand up to her mouth. "Gomen. I've been wasting your time here talking about the scene. Sakura's still in the hospital. I doubt she'd be home so soon after everything" she said sadly "I'm Yin...The Haruno's neighbor. Me and my husband are the ones who found her" Sasuke's eyes widened if only a fraction. Sakura was in the hospital? Wait...Found her? His eyes darted back to the bucket. Upon closer inspection the water was tinted slightly red. Sasuke knew it was blood...He'd had to clean the blood off of the walls at the Uchiha compound after the massacre, he'd be able to recognize the tinted water anywhere. He looked back up to meet Yin's eyes. She gave him a soft, sad smile. "Please tell her that if she needs anything that me and Kazuma are always here for her...Poor thing" she uttered, giving another bow before leaving rather quickly, probably afraid of actually getting caught cleaning the place up.

Sasuke knew he wasn't supposed to know about any of this. Kakashi would've told them if he was. But Yin obviously hadn't known that. Now Sasuke's interest was peaked. What exactly had happened yesterday?

* * *

**Well. There's chapter two for you. Left ya on a bit of a cliffy I know. But I've got some more with Sakura before Sasuke gets to figure stuff out. After all, I time skipped most of the day with him and Sakura wasn't exactly dormant. I've got some big plans coming up guys so tell me what you think. Lay it on me. I want your critiques. Tell me if you thought the chapter was kind've boring or if you enjoyed some of Sasuke's thoughts and take on things. I wanted to show you what he was like (if only a bit exaggerated) so you can see how he'll develop and change as well as Sakura. Sakura will change from her crybaby useless self into somebody who can hold her own with her team. And Sasuke changes from some hell bent on revenge brooding asshole into...Well guess you'll have to find out and keep reading right?**

**Vote's still going by the way. GaaSaku is in the lead with NejiSaku following. Guess we don't have a ton of KibaSaku lovers do we?**


	3. C3: Morbid Twist

**Hey all! Thanks for continuing with my story.**

**First off, I'm going to answer some questions:**  
**Q: Is this going to be a naru-saku-sasu story? -Guest**  
**A: Yes a little bit. I'm playing off of Naruto's childhood crush that was created in the actual manga plot. But there's also still going to be a onesided NaruHina for a bit and Naruto will snap out of his crush for Sakura sooner. Will there be actual NaruHina in this story? I'm not sure yet.**

**Q (well, this isn't exactly a question but something I felt should be explained): In this chapter the alignment was odd because it started as left side then moved to the middle -LazuliLAnime25**  
**A: The alignment was to draw a little more attention to the separation between my own notes and the story. That's why it's aligned left at the beginning and end. If it's bothersome I can format the entire alignment to be the same again. Chapter one had happened to have a fluke in the middle, sorry about that.**

**As for the votes on the mild underlying relationship it is currently:**

**GaaSaku- 3**

**NejiSaku- 2**

**KibaSaku- 0**

**Poor forever alone Kiba. Any who, lets get to the story!**

* * *

**Tattered Blossom**

**'Morbid twist'**

_Beep...Beep...Beep _Sakura sighed as she was pulled from the clutches of sleep by an ever so irritating noise. She reached to the right with her arm, trying to hit her alarm clock, but instead smacked her forearm on some sort of metal rail. The young girl's eyes opened instantly only to be partially blinded by the brightness of the room. When Sakura's eyes adjusted she realized the lights weren't on, the shades were drawn which let the sun's rays bounce off the white painted room and right into her face. Wait...White? Shades? Sakura's room was painted lilac, and she had no shades. Drowsiness was quickly leaving the pinkette as her instincts kicked in. She looked around to recognize a small hospital room. She saw that she'd smacked her arm on a guard rail attached to the side of the cot so patients didn't fall off. The low beep was in fact, not an alarm clock, but a heart rate monitor, one that was connected to her.

Sakura furrowed her brows as she looked up to the tiled ceiling. Why was she in the hospital? She didn't feel sick...But they only set up monitors when somebody was unconscious or seriously injured right? Did something happen in her sleep? Did she roll out of bed and hit her head? A small glint of red out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Hanging on the wall above the bed on a little hook was a call button to summon a nurse. Might as well figure out why she was here, and why her parents weren't waiting for her if she'd landed herself in the hospital. Upon reaching for the button with her left arm she suddenly felt a flash of pain in her shoulder. Surprised, Sakura let out a small gasp. She looked to her left to see that her shoulder was bandaged under the hospital gown. What happe-

_"I killed her...I killed her and now you'll die"  
__"Dad...Why?"_  
_No!_  
_Shulk!_

Everything flashed before her eyes as her mind finally pushed through the clouds. An agonized scream escaped the rookie konichi's lips as her hands-the left sending her another spark of pain-flew up to her head, as if she could erase the memories with a touch of her hand. Tears welled up in her eyes before cascading down her cheeks. Sakura rocked her body forward and back as loud, uncontrollable sobs forced their way out her throat. The door to her room opened not a moment later and a worried looking nurse rushed to her bed. "Sakura-san, Sakura-san calm down" she placed her hand on the konichi's back. Sakura would've smacked it away had it not been her left side. "Dead...They're dead...Dad...I killed...I killed...They're dead" Sakura was having trouble breathing, her breaths coming in much too fast to actually get oxygen. She was hyperventilating and could feel herself getting lightheaded.

The nurse's eyes widened as she recognized Sakura's panic attack. She moved into the rosette's line of sight. "Sakura-san, look at me" the konichi did as she was told. "Now I need you to focus and calm down. Take a deep breath in with me" the nurse started taking in air through her nose. Sakura started to do the same only to sniffle and restart "good, now let it out" the nurse exaggerated an exhale, Sakura following her lead. This repeated itself for a good two minutes until Sakura could control her breathing. She slowly moved her hands from her head, not wanting to irritate her now slightly bleeding shoulder. Tear lines still framed her face and every so often the girl would shudder involuntarily due to the violent sobs she'd been outputting before. Sakura was trying her best to hold in her tears, knowing she'd go right back to hyperventilating if she didn't. There was a horrible pain in her chest, much worse than her shoulder. It felt like her heart had just shattered. And rethinking last night's events...She wouldn't be surprised if it had.

* * *

She'd been in that hospital room for hours, just staring at the blank wall. The previous night replayed constantly in her head. The look in her mother's eyes. The cold blood she'd coated herself in while clinging to a corpse. The fear that they'd gotten her father too. The realization that the killer was her father. The wild, animalistic look in his eyes. The terrifying smirk accompanied with a bone chilling laugh she hadn't thought him capable of. The pain of being stabbed by her own flesh and blood. The feeling of warm blood dripping onto her skin over the already half crusted sheen of liquid. The realization she'd just killed her father. Every emotion, every instance was played over and over, bringing forth a wave of pain with each thought.

But with that pain, came anger. How could he?! How could her father do such a thing?! Had he been some psycho killer this whole time? Faking for his wife and daughter? Had his 'business trips' been cover ups for murders in other villages? Had he just snapped and decided to kill his own family too? No longer sustained by killing strangers? Sakura felt sick thinking about her dad like that. Thinking that he'd been a murderer from the start. That he'd been pretending to be a loving father and husband. That everything he'd ever said to her was a lie. He obviously didn't love her. Didn't love her mother either. He betrayed them. The sick bastard! He left her an orphan. Left her a murderer of kin. Left her struggling for reason to go on. The only reason she found was to spite him. He hadn't killed her...And he'd be winning if she did so herself. A stray tear slipped past her barrier. No matter how much hate she felt, the pain outweighed it. The loss was more. So much more than the anger.

_Knock knock_ "Sakura-san?" the same nurse from earlier-May was her name-called before opening the door, warning of her entrance. Sakura turned her head to look the brunette in the eye. The woman held her gaze without pity, anger or sadness. S_o she doesn't know what happened_ Sakura deduced. She wouldn't be able to give her such a neutral look if she knew just parts of the reason she was here. "The Hokage would like to speak with you" she stated. A pang of fear appeared in Sakura's head. The Hokage wanted to see her? Oh god...She didn't even know how the situation may have looked to Yin and Kasuma. What if they'd assumed she'd killed both her parents!? It had only been self-defense but they didn't know that. Was she going to be thrown in jail?! Upon only getting a frightened stare, May took a step forward "Sakura?"  
"H-Hai, I'm fine to travel" the pinkette answered. If she avoided him it would only make her seem more guilty, she had to plead her case. To let the Hokage know it wasn't her. She didn't want to be framed for her mother's murder. Sakura turned her body, letting her feet dangle and prepared to get out of bed. The nurse quickly took another step forward. "Oh no, lay back down. The Hokage came here. He's in the waiting room" Sakura's eyes widened again. The Hokage came to her?

May nodded in approval as Sakura moved to lay back down. The nurse left, closing the door behind her only to have it re-opened five minutes later. There in the doorway, was Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. "Hokage-sama" Sakura bowed her head in her sitting position in respect. The old man would've smiled had the situation not been so grave. Instead he nodded. "Sakura Haruno if I'm not mistaken. You just graduated from the academy, one of the first to pass Kakashi's test" Sakura nodded. "What happened to your parents-" Sakura winced "-Was a very big deal. I've had an investigation team go over the scene as well as accepted input from your neighbors. We believe we know what happened. Do you care to explain anything?" he asked. It was a bit surprising that he was asking for her side of the story even after the investigation. If she was a suspect...Didn't they only need evidence to convict her? She was sure the blood from her parents and kunai lodged in her father's chest provided enough to assume her guilty. With that thought in mind, Sakura quickly came to her own defense "I didn't kill them!" she burst.

After a moment of silence her head fell, no longer wanting to meet the elderly man's gaze. "I...I didn't kill her at least" she stuttered out, voice lowering. "He did...My dad...He killed her. I found her when I got home and...He attacked me" she could feel tears brimming and had to consciously hold them back. "I didn't want to...To..." she couldn't finish the sentence, a tear broke through her resolve and skidded down her chin to rest in her lap. "To kill him" the Hokage finished for her. Sakura answered with a curt nod, letting it be known she didn't want to stay on the subject. "We know you didn't" Hiruzen spoke, his wrinkled hand covering hers and drawing her attention back to his face. He could tell her all the evidence that pointed to her innocence. Like the kitchen knife as a weapon whilst she was a new ninja, the multiple hours between time of death of both of her parents, Yin's statement that she'd discovered Mr. Haruno dead on top of the young girl, and the grief he could easily sense to be true radiating off her at the moment. But he knew now was not the time to go into detail over how they'd known. "And I'm very sorry for what you've had to go through" he finished.

Sakura was both surprised and relieved that the Hokage believed her...That or they'd figured out somewhat what had happened. "Not to be rude, but if you knew...Why are you here?" the pinkette asked. Hiruzen's supportive gaze hardened as he released her hand. "We found something..." he started. Ah, yet another reason why Sakura was innocent...But the elderly man didn't know how to go about this. The nurse had mentioned that the girl had already had a panic attack, he didn't know how this would fare with her. But he could sense betrayal on her, he could sense the hurt and hate...She deserved to know. "We found some sort of poison in your father's body." Sakura's gaze snapped to her Hokage's _poison?_ she thought. "It's unlike anything we've ever seen before." He furrowed his brow, deep in thought for a moment as the old man tried to decipher how this all worked. The lab hadn't been able to pull enough from 's blood to break down the poison into ingredients, but he wasn't about to tell Sakura that. "The poison was accompanied by a jonin ranked genjutsu. Somehow the combination puts the victim into a crazed state. They lose the ability to control their bodies. They can see everything but can't control what they say or do."

"W-What?" Sakura stuttered. Her hand flying up to her mouth in horror. _Can't control what they say or do _she repeated internally. Her mind flashed back to the vivid memories of the previous night. She remembered the tears. How her dad was crying. She'd never figured out why he would be crying as he laughed, as he stabbed her. And when she'd talked to him, his hand had shook, as if trying to hesitate. When she'd killed him, the craziness faded. "Th-That means..." Sakura knew very well what it meant. She'd killed her father, she'd hated him, felt betrayed by him, she pegged him for a lying psycho that never cared...But it wasn't his fault. "You couldn't have known" Sakura almost forgot the Hokage was there. She looked away from him, knowing that he'd be able to see the pain and self loathing in her eyes. But the man was still a sensory type, and could feel the emotion rolling off her in waves. "Why him" the young girl choked out "He's a civilian"  
"We believe that's exactly why...The poison isn't strong enough for those trained in endurance. Even the weaker genin would be able to start to fight against it. We believe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time" he told her. This was top secret information, but the girl just lost both her parents. She was broken, scarred...He couldn't help but take pity and at least give her information as to why.

Said girl just nodded, she didn't trust her voice right now. In her head it made sense. He was a traveler, usually went alone, a civilian. It would be easy for a shinobi to to take him on, easy to surprise and overpower him. And even he showed breaks. The tiniest hesitation, the tears. Even if his mind wasn't actually able to stop his body, it triggered hesitation and remorse. Yeah...It all made sense there. But in her heart, it was impossible to understand. Who would do such a horrible horrible thing? Why would they attack her dad of all people? Deep down she knew it was anonymous, but it felt like Kami was out to get her. Why? Just Why? "Is there anything else?" Sakura asked brokenly, signaling she wanted to be alone. Hiruzen looked at her with sympathy before answering "I'm sure you know to keep this information between us. Nobody is to know of the poison. We'll bury your parents telling of different circumstances"  
"No." Sakura finally found her voice. The Hokage gave her a quizzical look. "I don't want to lie about their deaths, it feels like I'd be tainting the whole ceremony. Can we...Can we just not have a big ceremony? It'll be just me, Yin and Kazuma...And if you'd like..." she was a bit nervous at asking her leader to come to a private funeral.  
"I'll be there," he eased her nerves.  
"And...And after can you...Can you tell Yin and Kazuma not to tell anyone that they're dead?"

At this request Konoha's Hokage raised a brow. "As much as I don't want to lie to people, I'd have to if people found out, especially with a private funeral...My dad had a lot of friends. Mom was a housewife and dad was a traveler anyway, people don't ask about them too often. I just...I don't want to relive it every time somebody asks. I don't want people to look at me differently" she told him, gaining a bit more life with her voice. It was like a hidden promise to herself not to get wrapped up in depression. She'd killed her father...Her innocent father. And as much as that crushed her it mildly relieved her. He died a good man, a husband and father who'd been under control. At that thought Sakura clenched her fist. Hiruzen had already stood and started to walk out. "Hokage-sama?" she called. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I'd like to take up an internship here at the hospital as soon as I can" she announced. The Hokage gave her a knowing smile before turning without a word.

Now alone, Sakura looked out the window at the clouds. "I'm sorry Dad...Mom...I'm so so sorry" she thought her tears were gone but it seemed a second wind had come. She didn't care though, she didn't bother to wipe them. Why hide tears that were shed for the two people she loved most? "But, I'm going to make up for it. I promise. I'm going to learn everything I can about the poison. I'm going to find the person that did it and have them thrown in jail. I'm going to make an antidote...That's my promise. I'm going to be the best shinobi I can be, so I'm strong enough to protect everyone like I couldn't protect you..." Her mind wandered to a previous conversation with Sasuke "..I promise I'm not going to be weak anymore" she finished, basking in the light glow of the sun on her bed, letting the salty tears fall from her face. But now, a small, satisfied smile sat upon her lips. She meant it. She was going to make them proud, and make up for her weakness.

* * *

Hiruzen opened the door to his office with a sigh. He had to deduce just who could make a poison such as this. Sakura's father had returned from his last job two days ago now. So it had taken a day for whatever it was to kick in. The man also never came to the hospital or reported attack, so it had to have been subjected to him without his knowledge, which still didn't narrow down if it was before or after the genjutsu was cast. If an enemy could perfect this and spread it to shinobi...They could turn entire armies against each other. Hiruzen had no idea exactly what the poison did. The lab was working on it but besides not being able to control one's body there was nothing. No telling if the combination allowed somebody to control the man, make him follow orders, made him attack ally's or just made him violent towards anyone as soon as it kicked in. There were so many unknowns, too little of samples. It was impossible to track the attack back to somebody.

The sound of somebody clearing their throat broke Hiruzen from his thoughts. He looked to his right to see Kakashi standing there, leaning against the wall, a solemn look in his visible eye. "ANBU filled me in while I waited" he announced. Hiruzen let out another exasperated sigh. "Her emotions are mixed, could go either way. I'd be wary of her Kakashi" the copy-nin nodded.  
"Ironic how I thought she was going to be the one I didn't need to worry about"  
"Ironic indeed"  
A mildly tense silence filled the room, each man in his own thoughts. "She asked that nobody else find out about their deaths. You already know the cause of is classified. She didn't inform me until moments ago so I ask you to pretend you don't know. No special treatment"  
"You know me Hokage-sama. I wouldn't give special treatment to a blind man" Kakashi attempted in lightening the mood, earning him a small smile.  
"Aa, that is true. And that still worries me." The two men waited a moment in their forced joke, Kakashi looked over at the clock before announcing "I'll have to be going Hokage-sama. I have training in one hour." Hiruzen raised an eyebrow.  
"Since when are you on time?" Kakashi pulled out a very familiar orange book, his visible eye crinkling.  
"I'm not" he answered before poofing away. Hiruzen shook his head. He knew Kakashi was empathizing with Sakura, as he did with the Uchiha boy. All of them had important people taken away from them. He knew that the jonin wasn't going to be on time to his training, he never was. He also knew that he wouldn't be reading that book. It would stand as a cover as the man thought. He just hoped that the man didn't get into one of his moods. His students may be able to pick up on something.

* * *

**Well that's the end of this chapter. For those of you who think that 'thrown in jail' sounds weird for the fate of somebody who killed her parents; I actually think it sounds weird too. As much as I'd like to put kill there and as much as you were expecting it I wouldn't do it. Why? Because that's still not who Sakura is. Even though I'm changing her, not everything is just going to snap into place. She's still fairly innocent. She still believes in the justice of a system rather than justice of death. I think it reflects on her at the moment. Eventually she'll become more hardened. But the main change I'll have off the bat will be her happy-go-lucky attitude (She'll start faking and not be as talkative) as it was pretty much destroyed with her parents. And her will power. She gave up easy before and was content with being the weakest. She won't be anymore.**

**Tell me what you think of the story as well as my notes. I like hearing feedback. Thanks for reading.**


	4. C4: New Information

**Guess we're ready to start my too chapter then. First off, my formatting is now all the same. Didn't want to keep being distracting with the difference between my notes and the story so if you really can't figure it out...Well I don't think you should be on this site ;) Thank you all for the reviews, they're much appreciated trust me. I've got a couple responses to comments so here we go. If you don't feel like reading these mild conversations I suggest you scroll down.**

**LazuliLAnime25\- Ha, I'd had the ideas flowing and really wanted to pick up on it. My updates will speed up/slow down with my schedule. But I WILL be posting at LEAST once a month. If I don't, I give you and anyone else reading this permission to spam me until I do.**

**VanillaStratos (And a bit of LazuliLAnime25)\- You both mentioned how you were more or less against GaaSaku due to liking how Naruto changed him. Well in the plot I'd thought up for that pairing I was still planning on Naruto more or less changing him (as well as Naruto still changing Neji in his plot). The 'GaaSaku' I'm thinking of is more of an angry obsession with Gaara. You remember how he was obsessed with Lee for a little bit after Gai defended him? His attention would be on Sakura like that. I was planning on her triggering memories of Yashamaru (like she actually did) earlier due to her kind natured attitude. It would be a much less 'loving' kid of relationship. But hey. I got plans for NejiSaku and KibaSaku too if that's voted, not trying to change minds.**

**crunchymushies (And a bit of VanillaStratos)\- The both of you voted for KibaSaku but also mentioned NejiSaku as something you'd be fine with as well. In turn, I used your KibaSaku votes and had each of your NejiSaku's count as a half to give him one more haha.**

**Lonely Athena\- Yeah, sometimes I don't understand the use of prisons in the shinobi world...But that's only with certain inmates. Powerful ninja that are a threat to the village and society, shouldn't be given the option of prison. Too much risk, too powerful of a person. Yet they leave them there to plot and gather information...No. But I agree that civilians would still need prison but I'd add in low ranked shinobi. I mean if some thief came around or somebody was trespassing on the border, does that really deserve torture and death? And thanks for the compliment on Sakura's transition. She'll still have to wait for Tsunade before getting her strength. But I figure lets start her a little earlier as a medic. After all she has other reasoning besides Sasuke now.**

**Guest (There are two guests so I think you know which one goes to who)\- I understand your fear for Sakura's personality. But I assure you. I'm not really all into the damsel thing. I'm realistic, she won't be a badass right away or be capable of taking down enemies we all know would be much too strong for her (Hence, she's not gonna be going one on one with Haku or anything). She still has to build up strength and knowledge so she will be a bit weaker, but so is everyone right? I mean according to the plot, Sasuke doesn't have his sharingan yet and Naruto hasn't discovered the Kyuubi chakra. Sakura will pull her own weight without becoming OP...Or at least that's what I plan to accomplish. **  
**Guest two...I didn't want you to get confused and your comment wasn't exactly one to start a conversation but thank you for the compliment on my chapter!**

**As of now, the votes for side pairings are:**

**GaaSaku- 3**

**NejiSaku- 3**

**KibaSaku- 3**

**Ahh! They're tied! I'm gonna need some more votes!**

**Who's ready to get to the story? I know I am.**

* * *

**Tattered Blossom**  
**'New Information'**

_Turn around, go home. You don't care._ Sasuke put one foot behind the other, preparing to take a step back but found himself frozen in place, staring at Sakura's obviously unlocked door. 'Scene' could've meant anything. Maybe her parents got in a fight. Maybe Sakura fainted over it-sounds like something she'd do-and that's why she's in the hospital. That's why everyone was gone and the neighbor was cleaning up the 'stains' a bottle or vase or anything could've been thrown. Moreover...You. Don't. Care. She's an annoying little fan girl and if she finds you in your house you will probably be raped. /emHis inner monologue was doing a very good job of talking him out of walking into the building. But his feet still weren't moving. Dammit! His curiosity was getting the best of him. He had a solid feeling that none of his made up happenings actually occurred and knew that the answers lay inside. All he had to do was open the door...It wasn't even breaking and entering, the place was unlocked.

Despite reason screaming at him to just leave, Sasuke opened the door. The house was quaint, homey looking. The foyer held a family photo right on the wall parallel to the door, giving whoever entered a good look at the owners of the home. The Uchiha was actually surprised when he realized that neither of Sakura's parents had pink hair. He knew she didn't dye it, she'd had it since she was much too little to be dying her hair. He realized that she must've somehow gotten a mix of their hair colors. For Sakura's mother had light blonde hair, and her father had a faded red shade. The combination would create that odd pastel pink now wouldn't it? Sasuke shook his head. He was here to find out what happened, not analyze the damn girl's genetics. Again, he blamed his curiosity in place of actual interest in his new teammate. The raven haired boy moved on to the next is where hints started to reveal themselves. The whole room smelled like bleach and one could easily pick out the cleaned spot on the white carpet. A nice blob towards the base of the stairs was much lighter than the rest of the carpet, years of treading and probable stains removed with the chemicals. He walked over to the clean patch, crouching down in an attempt to get a closer look...Nope...Still just white carpet. That woman had cleaned whatever it was well. Sasuke just frowned at the spot. It looked too large to be a wine stain or anything that would pertain to a domestic fight...But it was also at the bottom of the stairs. Did somebody tumble down? Is that the reasoning? Cracked their head open and were sent to the hospital? That really could explain a lot.

Feeling like some sort of detective, Sasuke stood up once more and looked towards the stairs. He wasn't sure what he was looking for...But figured that any evidence on his prediction would be on them. The young boy slowly started to ascend the wooden staircase. His hand gripped the railing as he looked down at each of the boards, expecting to see blood or a dent where a head might have hit. His attention was drawn away when his hand ran over a crusty texture. Sasuke's head snapped up as he drew his hand back. Underneath the appendage was a brownish stain. The young Uchiha leaned in closer to the stain on the railing to realize it had a reddish hint...Kind've like blood...Blood. Sasuke felt like he'd pieced together the mystery. One of Sakura's parents...Maybe even Sakura herself-he wouldn't put it past her-had been going down the stairs where they lost their footing and tumbled forward. Whomever it was smacked their head on the railing and tumbled to the base of the stairs. Head wounds tended to bleed a lot, no matter how small-not that the fall was indeed that small-the injury. The family rushed said person to the hospital and stayed all day with them. The neighbor came in and decided to clean up the blood so the family wouldn't have to, nor be reminded of their clumsiness. That answered most of his internal questions...But one answer was still eluding him. If this was such an open and shut fall and family emergency. Why was there an investigation squad? That neighbor woman had thought he was on it for a bit so they were obviously needed. But why?

Sasuke looked back down the stairs, standing completely still to listen for anyone who may be approaching the house. He knew it would be a long shot to really hear anybody until they reached the door but he still tried. He'd have to make sure to hone his senses at training to eventually match a true shinobi's. Upon hearing nothing, the ravenette headed up the stairs once more. He doubted he could really find anything that would deduct what happened, but he was checking anyway. He felt so close to unraveling this little mystery. Yet at the same time was still unsure if his assumptions were really correct. Everything seemed to fit in to place. And this would be just the thing to happen to crybaby Sakura. He guessed he wouldn't hold it against her for missing those stupid missions. But had they been serious, he'd be mad. Shit happens all the time, the girl seemed to forget that and took everything bad that happened to her to heart. It was annoying. She thought she had it rough when she was a kid? Bullied by others about her forehead of all things? His entire clan was murdered by his own damn brother! Hell! Naruto grew up alone! But no...Sakura 'had a rough childhood'. Sasuke actually scoffed out loud at his thoughts. He didn't even know why he was still here. Sakura shouldn't concern him at all. Teammate or not, she was just a weak girl that would never understand true pain.

That thought nearly had Sasuke turning around. He was very well on the verge of doing so until his hand met a door. It was the first door on the right, just barely closed. The slight graze of his hand pushed the flimsy wood open. And the room was torn apart. The curtains were torn and hanging from the cracked window. A closet was built into the wall with the door cracked in two. Clothes were strewn around, torn and ragged. The sheets and comforter were barely grasping the cotton covered bed. What looked like stab wounds filled the piece of furniture, letting all the mattress' stuffing pool in the center. The walls had various dents, scratches and even some stab marks of it's own. There were broken pieces of lamp and picture frames scattered among the rubble. The room was beyond pillaged. Sasuke's brows furrowed. This brought more to his estimate table. The boy was starting to think there was some sort of fowl play. Some sort of actual, man vs man violence.

Thoughts of leaving flew out the window as the Uchiha turned around to go check the other rooms, see if they held the same devastation. But upon turning around, he heard the distinct sound of a handle turning. Somebody was entering the house...

* * *

She couldn't stay here any longer. Couldn't just sit in the hospital bed alone with her thoughts. It had only been the majority of a day but it felt like a week. By now Sakura knew she'd missed her first day on squad seven. Hopefully Kakashi wasn't too mad. She'd have to lie and say she was sick. Sasuke would be annoyed...Naruto wouldn't really care. The rosette pressed the little red button to summon a nurse, hopefully she could talk her way out of here.

While she waited, Sakura stared out the window. During the day she'd been given a lot of time to think. To mourn for her parents and cry, to think about cover-ups for why she was gone or for possibilities of people asking her about them. She'd been given time to think about who else she had. And the sad thing was...She didn't really have anyone. Sakura's only friend when she was young had been Ino, and due to their fighting over Sasuke they'd ended the friendship. After all of this...The rivalry and fighting seemed so...Stupid. So immature. She promised herself that she'd make up with Ino. She wanted...No, needed her best friend back. But even if she managed to repair the damage between them. Then she'd have just Ino, and training wasn't going to let them spend too much time together now was it? Especially since Sakura had already signed the papers to become an intern here at the hospital.

So who would Sakura have to rely on? To be there in her life now that her parents weren't? Her mind traveled to team seven. She'd have to be spending time with them, have to bond, it would be impossible not to. Naruto...Poor Naruto she was always so mean to him. He could be annoying sure, but his heart was there. He let her get away with everything because of that crush. Even if she didn't return his feelings, she swore to be nicer to him. Kakashi. She didn't know him very well. He had already said that he hated them upon his first introduction. He could be scary and cold. But when they acted as a team during the final test and passed...When he gave his speech about the stone and the ninja way. She could tell he had a good heart too. Sakura knew she'd end up liking her sensai. And then there was Sasuke. Sakura nearly blushed just thinking about him. He was handsome and mysterious. But that wasn't the only reason Sakura liked him. She wasn't like other girls that just fawned over him when he was around. She had watched him carefully. He was a sad kid...Almost tortured. And she now understood that blank look in his eyes. The one he tried to hide behind anger...It was the same look in hers...Loss. Her heart went out to him. But she knew he didn't feel the same. That he felt the opposite in fact. She was annoying to him. Maybe that's what she'd fix with him...She was going to be less annoying. Maybe he'd eventually see her as a comrade.

The sound of the door opening snapped Sakura out of her thoughts. In walked the nurse "Can I help you miss Haruno?" she asked. Sakura smiled shyly "Um...Can I..." she swallowed and gained some confidence in her tone "I'd like to leave today". The nurse's eyes widened a second before her eyebrows furrowed. "You've sustained a very deep wound to the shoulder combined with massive amounts of stress. The doctor recommends that you stay here at least another day." Sakura grimaced. She couldn't do that. She couldn't miss another day of training, people would get suspicious. Her shoulder hadn't even been aching since this morning. The pink haired konichi strengthened her resolve with said thoughts and spoke again. "It may be recommended. But I'm not a civilian. I'm a new shinobi of this village and a stab wound shouldn't be keeping me out for that long. I'll never be able to properly protect the leaf if i'm in the hospital missing training" she argued. The woman looked taken aback by the talk of patriotism. "Your records say you're fresh out of the academy. Your body can't-"  
"My body can learn. And it won't be given that chance if I'm staying cooped up in here. Please. I want to go home." her argument seemed to not be getting through, leading Sakura to desperate words at the end. The nurses eyes softened before she looked back at her chart and at Sakura again. She repeated the process one more time before sighing "I'll see what I can do." Sakura beamed as the defeated woman left the room.

* * *

Thankfully the hospital had an extra shirt that Sakura could borrow. It may not exactly look right if she were walking home in a bloodied torn dress. Sadly, the'd had no pants in her size. So Sakura was wearing a baggy, light blue shirt and her training spandex. It was awkward but at least she was getting out of that damned hospital room. "Sign here please" the receptionist asked, Sakura looked down at the paper that the woman had slid towards her. "What's this for?" she asked  
"It's to confirm early release. Your bill has been covered as a mission expense so you won't be receiving a bill either." Sakura was relieved at that, she didn't know how she was supposed to pay for her medical bill on her own. "The Hokage also left a note for you" the woman handed over an envelope, Sakura nodded in thanks, taking the paper and turning to leave, folded red dress in hand.

The sun was setting by now, leaving few people on the streets. Sakura was glad, she wouldn't want many people seeing her in this outfit. The young girl looked up at the sky. "I love you" she whispered. She didn't know if there was an afterlife, or if the dead turned to stars or any of the conclusions people had come up with. She just hoped her parents had heard her. Most people would be depressed, sitting in a pool of tears away from the world. Sakura was there towards the beginning. But she'd remembered how much her dad hated it when she cried. She was always so emotional so it was an often occurrence. He'd told her that life would be boring without a challenge. That they were set out there for you to overcome. Sakura saw this as the ultimate challenge. She was going to make her parents proud, she was going to do her best in everything and knew it wouldn't happen if she crumbled in on herself. It was kind've like numbing the pain. Just trying to avoid the thoughts of what happened...Of how it happened. Because Sakura knew if she replayed that scene in her head again, she wouldn't even make it home without keeling over to sob.

Before her mind started moving to said thoughts, Sakura decided to open the letter from the Hokage. She figured the'd talked about everything they'd needed to. What did he need? The pinkette unfolded the letter placed in the envelope to find scrawled in neat handwriting:

_Sakura,_

_I know this is a very hard time for you. Your parent's passing will continue to be a burden on your mind. The only advice I have to offer you is to take on their wishes for you. Do not let your hopes and dreams crumble. You know they wouldn't want that._

Sakura smiled to herself, it was funny how well the Hokage had pegged that.

_In light of their passing. There is a lot of complications for yourself. You are a minor, therefore, aren't supposed to be living on your own. Even if shinobi law brings adulthood to the age of sixteen, you are still too young. I can give you the option of moving in with Yin and Kasuma or, because of these special circumstances. I can set you up in a sustainable apartment of your own. It is unorthodox but I understand that you may not want to be so close to home so soon. Your house will be vacated and given no new residence in honor of your parents, but I believe it is in your best interests if you do not stay there._

_Pertaining finance. Your father did have life insurance due to his traveling. This money has been added to your parent's joint account. But as a minor, you will only be allowed to withdraw certain amounts per week and must come in to pay bills on your apartment with said account. Your mission money will be your own to place in the account, spend, or save on the side. Taking care of yourself is a great responsibility, that's why I suggest moving in with your neighbors. The choice is yours. I expect a letter by tomorrow so I may set up your living arrangements. You'll be able to stop by your home and gather your things._

_To end this letter I will tell you that we can hold a funeral in a week's time. I wish it could be done sooner. But we are still working with the poison. I have cleared your internship application for the hospital so you may start coming in once you're out. Take it easy on your shoulder even after your release to be sure it's healed properly and know you can come by the tower if you wish to speak to me on any of these events._

_Sincerely,_  
_Hiruzen Sarutobi_

Okay...Maybe Sakura was still emotional. Because she was crying just reading the letter. It put into words just how alone she was going to be. She was sure that Hiruzen thought she was still in the hospital as he'd said he wanted her away from home. But internally, she was glad to spend one more night in her house. She'd send him a letter tomorrow to tell him she'd rather have an apartment than impose on Yin and Kasuma. She wasn't that close with them anyway. Then she'd pack her things and be ready to move after training.

Re-reading the note, Sakura finally reached her house. She winced when she looked at the door. Her house looked fine from the outside, so normal. She half expected a "Welcome home" when she opened the door. But instead, she pushed open the door with her left hand, the right was occupied with wiping her tears away. There was nobody to greet her, nobody to give the dark house life. There was just silence. Right inside the door on the wall there was a family picture. The young girl's eyes fell on the frame, looking at each smiling face. She dropped her dress and letter, leaned back onto the door-closing it-, sank to the floor, and just cried. It was different than her stray emotional tears from the stress, different than her breakdown and mourning. It was a cry of total loss. One of self pity and hatred. One of somebody who's life had been shattered. And Sakura told herself it was going to be the last one over this. The last one that got in the way of her reaching her goals. The last tears she'd shed for herself in pity and pain. Because nothing could ever be as painful as this. Nothing else was going to be worth crying over. And if she thought something was worth it, that would be insulting her parent's deaths.

So the rosette cried in her foyer. She wailed and whimpered, falling onto her right side to curl up into a ball of despair. She didn't notice the smell of bleach, didn't care about the faint breeze coming in through the open window, and she certainly didn't notice a pair of eyes watching her.

* * *

Frozen as the front door clearly opened, Sasuke innerly berated himself. _You had no reason to come in here. What if it's Sakura or her parents?...Well, they aren't perceptive you can still sneek out. But what if it's the investigation cell again? You could be brought in for breaking and entering. You can't out run a jonin yet! _Dammit! Why did his curiosity have to get the best of him? Sasuke just stood there, listening. Trying to find out who it could be that entered the house. He heard a soft 'thunk', like fabric hitting the floor. And then he heard quiet sobbing. Sobs that got louder the longer he stood there, sobs that turned to wails. The young Uchiha's eyes widened slightly. Those cries belonged to Sakura but it wasn't her normal cry. She was usually a quiet crier, probably from being bullied when she was a kid, but these. These were agonized wails of somebody who thought they were alone. There was something so familiar about them. That's when Sasuke realized that he'd heard the sounds before. Not so feminine...Coming from his own mouth. The night his clan was murdered. He'd screamed and wailed with self pity and hatred, he'd brokenly cried in agony for his lost loved ones.

It was these cries, combined with the torn up room and bloodied stairs that led Sasuke to believe something terrible had happened. Something to one or both of Sakura's parents. He gulped shallowly, thinking back to how he'd classified her absence earlier, as her overreacting over something stupid and meaningless. Even if he didn't know what happened, didn't know what was going on. He knew that nobody cried like that for nothing. That nobody could fake the pain, or even create that sound without truly experiencing it.

The young boy crept down the stairs silently. He was sure he hadn't had to sneak, her cries would drown out normal footsteps. Tonight wasn't the night to sneak around for answers. He couldn't just grill her in her home when he had no right to even be there. Heck...He wasn't going to grill her at all, he couldn't. He was Sasuke Uchiha and he didn't care. Knowing Sakura she'd probably bring it up tomorrow. She told him everything...Even when he let her know that he didn't want to hear it. It was time to leave. To pretend he knew nothing and be patient. He couldn't let her know he was ever even here.

But as Sasuke crept toward the window, he made the mistake of looking back. He saw a mess of pink hair sprawled out in front of the front door. Sakura had curled into herself, shaking from the power of her sobs. For a moment he saw her as smaller, with black hair and an Uchiha symbol printed on the back of a blue shirt. He saw her as himself years ago. He remembered how much it hurt to be alone. How he'd wished for console above anything else. If he'd been anybody else but himself. He would've thrown secrecy into the wind and comforted the small girl. But he wasn't anybody else. He was still Sasuke, and he snuck out of the house under the cover of feminine cries.

* * *

**That's it for this chapter. Sasuke's such an ass for leaving her there...But hey, he's an Uchiha right? So I'm sure most of you noticed Sakura's no crying pact to herself. Well I guess that gets rid of crybaby Sakura. She just has to work on weak and useless now. Her brawn can't exactly build at hyperspeed but that's why I put her in the hospital already. Boy do I have some tricks up my sleeve.**

**Next chapter will have some Naruto finally! And some team seven stupid missions! It'll be more of a chapter to outline Sakura's changes and the teams reactions to them. Those of you that think you'll miss Sakura's violent tendencies towards Naruto, fear not. Nobody can put out those fires! haha. Oh and...Be ready to welcome some inner Sakura. She's gonna be coming into the mix. I mean, I think now of all times Sakura's going to need that strength right?**

**Anywho...Give me reviews. I love hearing what you all have to say. And don't forget to vote on the mini couplings above. Don't be afraid to ask any questions or complain. I take constructive criticism quite well. So just don't be a dick about it and we'll be square.**


	5. C5: Changing

**Thanks so much for the follows, favs and reviews you guys. So glad to see my story is picking up some fans! Sorry for the delay in posting. But this is also my longest chapter yet so I hope that makes up for it. This should be the last chapter before the Zabuza arc begins and boy do I have some fun planned! As I did in the last chapter, I'm going to reply to comments and questions. So if you don't really care, skip down to the voting tidbit.**

**LennyJess- Thanks for the advice on the grammar. I know sentences aren't supposed to start with 'and' but sometimes I feel like there needs to be the lasting pause of a period before an 'and'. The one you pointed out certainly wasn't the case and I did in fact change it. But sometimes when I want a lasting pause, like a pause in thought that isn't as long as a '...' I'll put a period. If you have a different suggestion to get this effect I'm all ears and feel free to point out grammatical errors that seem to be repetitive that I may not fully grasp (as long as you don't feel like you're wasting your time in doing so). I strive to learn a little every day.**

**Lonely Athena- Haha yeah Sasuke is an ass. But I think it would be very out of character if he suddenly comforted Sakura while disliking her not an hour earlier. I'd tell you if Sasuke asks or not. Buttttt...I feel like making it more suspenseful, another reason to read right?**

**Guest- Ah! Don't worry. I wasn't planning on her only being a medic. My favorite thing about the manga/anime Sakura is her abilities (I wasn't too fond of the personality most of the time). I love the strength and healing. She will still gain the abilities she does originally. But I'm keeping to the story in the sense that she doesn't train her strength until she meets Tsunade. So until then, I'm throwing her into the medical world. For right now, she will kind've have an exceptionally small chakra store. But that's because she hasn't been training, until the gruesome night she was the same annoying girl she started off as in the anime/manga. Her reserves will increase with training and evidently lead to higher stores than she holds in the actual story due to her starting sooner. I have a few tricks up my sleeve with the whole medic business as well. Hopefully I'll keep your interest in the following chapters so you can see my idea line.**

**Guest (there was a second one)\- This is a Sasusaku fanfic. I think you were reading wrong. The pairing poll is for a SIDE pairing. A secondary that would be short lived or one sided. Something that wouldn't last and would push the Sasusaku pairing forward in the long run.**

**So, I got a nice bit of new votes for the side pairing. We're getting some likes on the GaaSaku. Don't know if it's just the love of the couple with the readers that are new to this story or because I described my motive with that pairing before the last chapter. If anyone is having issues deciding or want to know my intentions with KibaSaku or NejiSaku then just ask. As of right now the votes are:**

**GaaSaku-8**

**NejiSaku-5**

**KibaSaku-6**

**Hmmm...When would be a good time to stop the votes? Sixth chapter? Eighth? **

* * *

**Tattered Blossom**

**'Changing'**

Emerald eyes opened to the distant beep of a very annoying alarm clock. The first thing Sakura noticed was her right arm was asleep. She'd been resting her head on her upper arm all night which made it go numb. Upon looking at her currently unresponsive arm, Sakura realized it was laying on tile..._She_ was laying on tile. _Oh yeah_ She thought _I must've cried myself to sleep._ Even coming to said conclusion in her head was embarrassing. The pinkette pushed herself up, only to find herself wincing at the combination of stinging in her shoulder and an extremely stiff back. Neither of these pains surprised her. The nurse had told her that inflammation was at it's worst in the morning; and it didn't take a medical expert to know sleeping on the floor would give you a stiff back.

That ever so 'useful' alarm clock was still going off in her room. She needed to turn the damn thing off as well as get dressed. But Sakura found her feet didn't move upon her brain's command. She was nervous...Scared. She didn't want to see the blood stains. The mix of her and her father's life fluid. She didn't want to see what horrors could very well be waiting upstairs due to his drug induced rage. _You told them you'd get stronger. Here's step one,_ Sakura pushed herself forward and around the corner towards the living room. To her surprise, there was no blood stain in the carpet...Just a lighter patch. She knew there was more than enough to pool and sink into the fibers and stain. Furrowing her brows, it was only then that the faint smell of bleach reached her nostrils. _Yin must have done this_ she deduced. Last night she'd been far too stressed to notice the fumes, or the fact that her window had been left open. Despite this, Sakura was thankful. She didn't need a permanent reminder of what she'd done. The pinkette shuddered just thinking about thinking about it.

The stairs weren't as well polished, specks of blood still decorated the steps. A lump formed in Sakura's throat as she realized this must have been her mother's blood...The blood that had been coating herself and her father. Sakura quickly jerked her hand away from the railing, not wanting to touch the condemning liquid. She was really starting to see the point no longer living in this house...

On her right, Sakura noticed that the door her father had jumped out of was open...The door was placidly ignored. Sakura doubted she'd make it to training if she let herself enter that room. It may only be the guest room...But she didn't want to imagine what horrors could lie inside. The last thing she needed was to re-live those memories once again. No, today was a new day. There would be no emotional breakdown...Wow, she was telling herself that and she'd only been awake for a good five minutes. Despite that fact, Sakura kept her thoughts positive; Today was going to be better...A new start...A sad, but new start. Sakura opened the door to her bedroom-seeing it was untouched since the last time she was inside-where the blaring sound of her alarm greeted her. The annoyed rosette walked over and turned the little clock off. It was 5:34am. They were told to meet at six.

Sakura walked over to her vanity, only to spot herself in the mirror for the first time in a good day and a half. She looked terrible. Eyes puffy and red from crying, her lips chapped and cracked, pink tresses reduced to a shaggy bedhead, bandages wrapped around her shoulder under the shapeless hospital shirt and dark circles right under her eyes showing her lack of sleep. There were two things Sakura realized as she looked at herself in the mirror. Number one...She couldn't really get herself to care about how bad she looked. It seemed so trivial. She was going to go train right? Sweat? Run...Maybe even bleed. What was the point of getting all gussied up? She guessed she never thought of that before...Then again, she'd never felt so focused on training before either. The second thing she noticed, is that the only reason she resented her disheveled look, was because it showed how she'd crumbled just the day before. What kind of ninja was she? She couldn't just show up looking like a girl who'd just lost her family. She'd just receive fake pity from acquaintances, Naruto asking a million questions about why she was upset, and Sasuke calling her weak and annoying. She really didn't think she could take that today. No...If she was going to truly be a shinobi. She was going to look like one.

The first thing to go, was the hospital's shirt. Followed by the bandages. Sakura looked back in the mirror, standing in her chest bindings and looking at the mark from the knife. The clear stab line was still red around the edges but had clotted blood along the line; this let her know that the skin hadn't knitted back together yet, but was starting to heal. She'd have to be careful today or she'd re-open the wound. The new konichi walked over to her closet. She'd decided she was going to wear that red dress with her clan symbol on the back for her ninja gear. In hindsight...It was a stupid idea. The dress just made her look _girly _and girly meant weak. Instead, Sakura dug through her shirts until she found a form fitting red tank top with the same Haruno crest on the back. It looked much better than the dress, and without all the extra fabric flapping around she knew it would be more efficient. Now...Sakura wasn't color blind. She knew very well that red and pink did not mix. She stuck out like a sore thumb and clashed terribly. But she wasn't about to change the colors. Red and white were the colors of the Haruno's. She'd wear them with pride...Always.

It wasn't hard to find mildly tight, but comfortable black pants to go with the shirt. Sakura attached her kunai pouch to her right leg and donned a pair o black shinobi sandals her mother had bought her last year. She was really starting to look serious...Except for her hair. Well...It was very hard for pink to look serious in the first place. But the length was going to be a bit of a problem. She could just see herself trying to turn and getting blinded by the pink tresses. She ran a hand through the long locks, they were silky and healthy...She'd always taken good care of her hair. An old memory came to mind. It was back when she was younger. When Ino had told her that Sasuke liked girls with long hair. That's why she originally started growing it out. Despite her rationality, Sakura blushed a little...She'd keep her hair long. To keep it out of the way, she threw it up into a high ponytail and tied her Hitai-ate around her head like a normal headband. The dark circles were still apparent under her eyes, but the puffiness had faded making her just look tired. She could deal with that.

All that was left was re-wrapping her shoulder-less excessively than the doctors had-and writing back to the Hokage. It was 5:45...She needed to hurry.

* * *

_Hokage-Sama,_

_Thank you for helping me through all this. I don't know what I'd do without you doing all of this for me. I think I prefer an apartment over staying with Yin and Kasuma though. As kind as they are to offer, I don't want to intrude on their lives. I agree with your choice of not having me stay in my home. But viewing it every day instead I fear will serve no purpose. I was actually wondering...__Can...Can I come see my parents tonight? I know you've probably already...'started' on them- Sakura couldn't bring herself to actually write about the autopsy that was probably used to find out about the poison. She didn't want to think about her dad being cut up on a table -I need to say my goodbyes, I need to apologize. I don't think I can wait. I won't be able to sleep at night if I don't. So please...Just for a few minutes, can I see them? I will come in today after training to figure out money and living arrangements as well as figure out a cover as to why I'm not living with my parents. Thank you again. I'm so grateful having you on my side through this. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you.  
__Love,_

_Sakura_

Said konochi read over her letter once more, nodding to herself in acceptance before folding the paper up and depositing it in an envelope marked for the Hokage Tower. With a deep breath, she headed outside and dropped the letter into the mailbox. Sakura hoped that the hokage told them he was expecting her letter, otherwise she doubted it would get through the screening process (As the Hokage a lot of people wanted to contact him. The screening process made sure the most important documents got to the Hokage first and dwindled down to the least important).

With a sigh, Sakura looked up at the sky. She could see sparrows flying between buildings, a very light blue tinting the background. There were no clouds and in the distance one could still see the oranges of the sun rise. _Please...Let me get through the day_ Sakura prayed. She needed to be strong, needed to not let anyone on or everything would be ruined. With a determined nod, Sakura headed towards the training grounds.

* * *

Sasuke walked toward the bridge Team 7 was told to meet at. He was sulking more than usual, shooting glares at random fangirls upon receiving their attention and otherwise glowering at the ground. His hands and ankles were wrapped obviously new bandages and his kunai pouch was half empty. Sasuke had been training last night. Longer than he'd trained in a long long time. He had gone to the grounds of the Uchiha compound right after leaving Sakura's. He'd attacked the dummies and wooden practice targets with everything he had. Eventually he'd run out of kunais and exhausted most of his chakra, leaving him to taijutsu. He was sure that the post was red with the blood from his knuckles and ankles by now. But he wasn't able to stop. Every time he had...Sakura flashed into his mind. The image of her sobbing pathetically on the floor of her house.

The Uchiha clenched his fists in his pockets, giving a particular pebble a death glare. He didn't understand why he cared. He never cared about Sakura's tears. She was a cry baby. A nuisance that didn't understand what true pain even meant. But this time...It was different. Maybe because Sasuke had figured out something had actually happened. Maybe because of the ominous aura of the house. Maybe as a result of his nightmare...But it was definitely different.

Speaking of different...Sasuke nearly stopped in his tracks when he spotted said pink haired girl. He'd reached the bridge to find her there first once again. But she looked so different. Gone was the feminine red dress and spandex she'd taken to wearing as ninja garb. Instead it was replaced with a tank and pants. Gone was her long, well cared for hair. Instead it was back in a high ponytail. She was leaning on the bridge, staring at the water biting her lip; the leaf symbol shining proudly in the morning sun. Sasuke would sure he'd never seen her look so much like a...Like an actual ninja. But this bothered him as well. Because now he knew something was up. Not only had her appearance changed...But he'd been standing there looking at her for a good five or six seconds and not a word. That just wasn't possible with Sakura...Especially when it came to him.

Now...Normally the young Uchiha would be glad that the damn girl was quiet for once. But not after last night. He still didn't know exactly what happened, he only had a theory. But she was proving that something significant did transpire with everything she was doing. For once, Sasuke didn't want silence, he wanted answers...Answers to questions he couldn't ask. Because he was an Sasuke Uchiha. And Sasuke didn't care about other people's lives. He was an avenger with only one goal. He couldn't just ask about people's home lives, let alone a fangirl like Sakura. Knowing his luck it would end up being nothing and Sakura would fawn over him ten fold for 'worrying' about her. Tch. He was not worried. Sasuke took to quietly clearing his throat as he leaned back against the rail. Sakura jumped a bit, showing she hadn't been paying attention, before looking over at him "Oh...Hi Sasuke-kun" she greeted with a smile. He noticed it was much lighter than usual and how soft her voice was. He just gave her his trademark 'hn' and turned his head to stare off into space.

The tense silence hung in the air between the two teammates. Sasuke staring off and wondering why the pinkette wasn't talking his ear off as she normally did; And Sakura awkwardly glancing at Sasuke and then the ground. Trying to think of what she should say. It was hard to act normal when you were telling yourself to act normal.

"SAKURA-CHAN! You're back!" saved by the number one knuckle-head ninja. Naruto came galloping into view, completely ignoring Sasuke and lunging at Sakura to pull her into a hug. Sasuke rolled his eyes and mentally counted down to when Sakura hit the dobe and told him to get off her. Three...Two...One...Nothing. The Uchiha looked out of his peripherals to see Sakura actually hugging Naruto back. Her eyes closed a moment, as if she were cherishing the contact. His eyes subconsciously narrowed. Something sure as hell was up.

* * *

_Be nicer to Naruto, be nicer to Naruto_ Sakura chanted in her head as the blonde came barreling towards her. She was ninety nine percent sure she was about to be tackled to the ground...She wasn't sure if she could keep a clear head after that. But Naruto surprised her when he wrapped his arms around her happily. Like a child that was excited their favorite babysitter was back. Okay...Maybe being nice to him wasn't going to be so hard. Usually if Naruto tried to touch her, let alone hug her, she would clobber him. But right now...This hug was exactly what she needed. Ever so slowly she hugged the spark-plug of a boy back. Said boy let out an audible sigh or relief, obviously expecting to be clobbered. The pinkette couldn't help but wonder why he'd still try to hug her if he thought he was going to get hit.

The hug didn't last more than a few seconds before Sakura broke it. She noticed Sasuke's narrowed eyes trained on her. Her own emerald orbs widened a bit. Okay...As much as she swore she'd be nice to Naruto, she realized how out of the ordinary she must seem. Sasuke was a prodigy after all, she couldn't just change her whole attitude and expect him not to notice. "Baka" Sakura muttered, punching Naruto in the arm-granted, not nearly as hard as she would've just a couple days ago- "You can't just go jumping on people" she scolded.  
"But I missed you Sakura-chan! Kakashi said you had a family emergenc- Woah! When did you start wearing that! You look so cool!" Sakura internally sweat-dropped, thank god for Naruto's short attention span.  
"I uh...Decided I'd go for a new look. We're real ninja now, not just in the academy. I figured I should dress like it" Naruto gave her a beaming smile and nodded his head in return.  
"Man...You think Kakashi-sensei's gonna be late again?" the blonde inquired, giving a small glance to Sasuke. Said Uchiha had been scowling at the two of them for whatever reason. "Hn...Dobe, he's been late every day with the same excuse, what do you think?" he replied sarcastically. Naruto's own eyes narrowed.  
"You don't have to be such an ass about it Teme!" both boys were now glaring, slowly walking towards each other hostily.  
"Don't fight you guys. I'm sure sensei will be here soon" Sakura tried to defuse the two. They glared at each other for another moment or so before Sasuke turned around, walking back to his spot on the bridge.  
"I don't fight weaklings anyway" he muttered  
"WEAKLING!? WANNA SAY THAT T0 MY FACE YOU BASTARD" Naruto jumped up, ready to attack the raven haired boy but Sakura looped her arms under his own, holding him back. "LET ME GO SAKURA-CHAN I'LL KICK HIS ASS" Sasuke just smirked before closing his eyes, deeming the situation as boring.

Finally Naruto calmed down and Sakura let go. She rubbed her shoulder, holding Naruto back had strained it just a bit. "Ne, Sakura-chan? You okay?" Naruto asked. Sakura stiffened, she hadn't realized he'd still been watching her. The rosette felt another pair of eyes on her and glanced over to see Sasuke's open once again. His gaze shifted to her shoulder a moment "Your shoulder's bandaged" he stated simply. Naruto's head snapped to her arm. "What happened?" he asked. Sakura's face flushed. She guessed she'd forgotten an excuse for one thing...How did she get hurt? "Um...I...Uh..."

_Poof_

"Yo"

_Oh thank kami_ Sakura thought as Kakashi came into view. "YOU'RE LATE SENSEI" Naruto yelled, Sakura being too busy de-tensing to join into the chorus. "Sorry, I decided to help a little old-"  
"LIAR"  
"Shut up dobe...You're too loud" Sasuke grumbled from his position.  
"Make me teme!"  
"I told you I don't fight weaklings...Let alone dead last"  
"Why you-"

_Ahem. _Kakashi cleared his throat, catching the boy's attention. "Welcome back Sakura. I'm see everything has cleared up at home" he smiled. It was incredibly insensitive considering what Kakashi knew, but Sakura didn't know that he'd been told about her parents; and as a jonin of course he knew how to pretend he didn't know something. The slight glaze to Sakura's eyes were apparent, but only because he was looking for it. "Hai Kakashi-sensei" Sakura gave him a small smile, a mere shadow of her own a couple days ago. But that was impressive in itself...To still have a smile.  
"Today is going to be our second mission. Hope you're ready"  
"Hn"  
"Hai"  
"Woo Hoo! I'm gonna rock it dattabayo!"

* * *

Picking weeds...So there was something lamer than cat catching. It was picking weeds for some old lady. If Sasuke had the choice at the moment, he'd burn the garden and the entire damn home to the ground, he didn't need this. This didn't make him stronger. "Pssst" a voice drew Sasuke from his darkened thoughts...Only to irritate him more when he saw a glimpse of bright orange jumpsuit right next to him "PSSSST Sasuke" the blonde whispered again, poking Sasuke's arm. Said Uchiha tried to ignore him, he was sure the pest was going to offer up some sort of contest, and then he'd have to play along just to put the dobe in his place "Sasuke!" Naruto gave a harsh whisper, nudging the Uchiha again.  
"What" the brooding ravenette finally growled.  
"Do you...Do you think something's wrong with Sakura-chan?" Now that question, Sasuke could honestly say he didn't expect.  
"What?" he asked, pausing in weed pulling to look at the blonde whom was glancing over his shoulder at the only female in their squad.  
His eyes held worry and curiosity.  
"I think something's wrong" Naruto muttered seriously.

Sasuke looked past his 'rival', at Sakura. She was pulling weeds as she was supposed to, but distanced farther away from them. She pulled mostly with her right hand, obviously babying the left. His eyes narrowed slightly on the bandages peaking out from under her shirt; he didn't like the idea of her keeping secrets. Sakura was supposed to be the open book. But she'd been proving that theory incorrect all day today. Sasuke's gaze traveled to the rosette's face. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes half cloudy. She was thinking hard, lost in thought as she worked. And silent...Which was a hundred times too quiet for Sakura.

Naruto looked back at Sasuke "You see what I mean right? The new outfit and how quiet she is. And how her smile doesn't reach her eyes" Sasuke blinked at that. Was Naruto really that observant? He hadn't even been worrying about the girl's facial expressions. Her smile was a smile, open and shut. But here was Naruto pointing out that the gestures of happiness could be fake. "She didn't beat me up yet either and I've already done a bunch of stuff she hits me for. I thought she was gonna kill me when I hugged her...But she didn't" the blonde had furrowed his brows now as he continued. Sasuke snorted a bit "Why did you hug her then?"  
"Because she looked like she needed it..." The two boys sat in silence-which was also odd for Naruto-Sasuke never answered the question. Instead thinking about how the dobe had found all these 'signs' that he'd missed. Wasn't he supposed to be a genius? Why didn't he notice this. Sasuke tried to tell himself it was because he didn't need to notice. Because Sakura wasn't important. But it still irked him that Naruto of all people beat him out in perception. Said boy didn't seem to notice the lack of reply, he was still glancing at Sakura with a worried expression. The Uchiha decided to turn back to his work. He didn't care anyway.

It wasn't two seconds after that when Naruto suddenly called "Sakura-chan, how'd you hurt your shoulder?" Sasuke's attention turned to the only female in their group. Okay, maybe Naruto hadn't beaten him in perception...He'd noticed the bandages far before the blonde. Sakura's head snapped up with a look of mild surprise before the look faded into a sheepish smile. "Oh this?" she pointed to her injured shoulder "this is what happens when I try to cook" she laughed "I turned the handle of a pot the wrong way when boiling water. When I hit it the water splashed and burned me. It looks really gross right now" she smiled again. And now that Sasuke was looking for it, he too noticed the way the smile didn't reach her eyes. He knew she was lying. You don't bandage burns unless they're severe. And boiling water shouldn't be that bad after a day...Or even that 'ugly'. But it wasn't like he could call her out. For one, that might lead to questions. Two, they might mistake him for caring.

"Ah! I've burn myself on instant ramen all the time!" Naruto tried to level with another grin. How could somebody previously that perceptive be a total idiot the next minute? Guess it was just a mystery that came with Naruto.

* * *

"I bet I can pick ten times more weeds twice as fast as you teme!"  
"Hn, like hell"  
"Let's go! Whoever picks more is the better ninja!"  
"Hn"  
Sakura sighed, looking over her shoulder at the boys' new contest. Looked like they were going to be eternal rivals. She was just glad attention was off of her. It had taken her half the mission time just coming up with that excuse...Which is probably why she only had about twenty weeks actually picked. They sat in a neat pile next to her, leaving the herbs well pruned and undisturbed. Sakura smiled slightly, a genuine smile. Gardening was such a simple act. But it reminded her of her mother. When she was little they had a vegetable garden. Sakura had learned how to grow tons of foods as well as how to keep a fine garden. She forgot why they'd scrapped the project...It had been so much fun. Maybe her new apartment would have room for a garden.

Something hit Sakura in the back of the head, drawing her out of her thoughts. She ran delicate fingers through her ponytail to find dirt raining from the pink strands. The rosette turned to look down and find Mitsuba* laying on the ground. Sakura's head snapped up to the boys, Naruto was throwing plants in all directions, all green disappearing from the dirt. "Naruto! You baka!" Sakura scolded, causing both boys to stop their competition to look at her. Sakura grabbed the herb off the ground "These aren't-"  
"What are you hooligans doing to my garden!" a shrill, irritated voice called from the porch. Sakura sighed, dropping the pillaged plant back on the ground. No use in trying to correct anything now.

The woman was pissed, marching off her porch towards the three of them. Oh god, Sakura didn't want to deal with her. Luckily...Naruto was quite good at drawing people's wrath. The baka stood up proudly, pointing to his pile of greens-one that was boastfully larger than Sasukes'-with a wide smile "I got rid of all your weeds ma'am. No need to thank me. It's the least your future hokage can do for you." The older woman looked flabbergasted, then disgusted, then angry. "You little twerp! You tore up all my herbs with the weeds! You ruined my garden!" Naruto looked confused, his face flashing back to the piles of plants. Finally noticing that his pile was bigger due to having a larger, more consistent green mixed in. Instead of fessing up for his mistake, Naruto decided to argue "Well you really shouldn't have a garden of plants that look like weeds"

_Dammit Naruto_ Sakura sighed internally, now they were going to get it.  
"What did you say you brat!" the elderly woman bellowed as she left her porch step "Get over here! I'll show you how to respect your elders!"

* * *

"Tomorrow we'll be going back to paint her house"  
"WHAT! WE'RE STILL WORKING FOR THAT OLD BAT"  
"We've got to do something to make up for the herbs you destroyed Naruto"  
"These aren't even real missions Kakashi-sensei!"  
"They're D ranked missions. And until you guys improve we'll be working them."  
"How can we learn if we aren't even training yet!"  
"We would be training tomorrow if you didn't go destroying that woman's garden"  
The blonde crossed his arms in defeat, pouting as he glared back at the old woman's house. The only reason she'd caught him was because Sasuke tripped the poor boy when he tried to run. The woman certainly wasn't against hitting ninja. Naruto wore some nice sized goose eggs on his head that were slowly turning pink. Sakura shook her head with a slight smile. He was such an idiot.  
"Anyway, you're done for the day. Rest up, because after painting her house we're going to do some training" Kakashi announced with a smile.  
"FINALLY" Naruto yelled.  
"Well, I'll see you all tomorrow" and the silver haired jonin was gone in a puff of smoke.

Sakura looked at the ground after Kakashi left, biting her lip in indecision. She was supposed to see the Jokage now and get all of her living arrangements set up. But she was scared...Nervous really. Sakura knew she was avoiding the conflict but it was hard to think of yourself as ready to live on your own at such a young age. At the same time, living in her home would be a nightmare. Would it really hurt to just avoid both her house and the Hokage tower for a few hours?  
"Ne Sakura-chan? Want to go get ramen with me?" it was a well repeated question that Sakura was used to flat out rejecting-maybe with a few thrown in insults-but today she paused. At least for a moment. She knew it would be incredibly out of the ordinary if she suddenly joined Naruto alone. Plus...He'd probably ask her questions about home, she really didn't want to talk about it. "Sorry Naruto. Maybe some other time" she rejected politely. The blonde's goofy smile didn't even falter. He simply seemed content with the fact that she didn't add a vicious insult as she would've done before her promise. "Okay Sakura-chan. I'll see ya later" Naruto waved as he all but ran towards the ramen stand. Sakura could just imagine him cleaning them out for the night. Ramen was all that kid ever ate.

As the pinkette turned around; she was met with a familiar red and white crest. Sasuke was walking the opposite way, hands shoved into his pockets. But wait...That wasn't the way to his house. "Where are you going Sasuke-kun?" she couldn't help but ask. Said boy stopped a moment, not bothering to face her as he responded simply "Training". Sakura sighed internally, he never spoke to her more than a few sentences-least they be insults-and now he wouldn't even look at her. Wait! Training? Sakura stared at the youngest Uchiha as he walked off toward the training grounds. He was top of their class when it came to skill. He did the best during the bells test and was always known as the strongest. He trained every day and obviously knew how to do it well. A crazy idea popped into Sakura's head.

"Sasuke-kun!" she called out, taking a few steps forward only to freeze at the same time he did. This time raven locks turned to reveal the side of his face. One onyx eye fixed her with an annoyed look "What?" if his irritation hadn't been apparent in the look, his tone sure let her know. Sakura brought her hands down to the end of her shirt, fiddling with the fabric nervously. A pink tint came to her cheeks and the young girl inwardly cursed how bad she was at hiding her feelings. "Um...I um...Can I..." she gulped as he raised an eyebrow "CanIPleaseTrainWithYou!" Sakura spat out in one breath, bowing her head respectfully for reasons she couldn't even try to defend. Why did Sasuke always make her so nervous? It was like as soon as she saw those onyx eyes she melted. She got lost and flustered. It was embarrassing but she couldn't help it.  
"No"  
Sakura's eyes widened slightly, head still parallel to the ground as she heard footsteps walking away from her. "Oh..." she mumbled softly to herself. The disappointment was crushing. It shouldn't have been but it was. Lifting her head, Sakura was once again met with the imaginary stare of the Uchiha crest. Said symbol got smaller and smaller until Sasuke was out of sight. Sakura sighed in defeat. She tries to win his affections, and all she receives is insults. She tries to put on a strong front, and he just breaks it down. She tries to get stronger...He won't help her. All she is is an annoyance to him, plain and simple.

**'You're kidding me right?'** Sakura jumped nearly three feet in the air. How had she not noticed anybody walking up behind her? The rosette turned to see who the scolding voice belonged to only to be met with empty space. "Who..." now she was confused. She couldn't have just imagined that voice could she? Was she going crazy now? **'Wow, you are just full of self doubt aren't you?'**  
The voice...Was echoing inside her head. Not only that, but it sounded just like her. Except...A little burlier...With more confidence. Sakura slowly brought her hands up into the sign for genjutsu release. She hoped she was doing it right "Kai" Sakura muttered. **'I'm really tempted to just let you go on with this, but I'm getting bored. I'm you stupid...Well, Kind've. I'm the better version of you.' **Sakura furrowed her brows. This had to be a trick. But she'd have to play along. She decided speaking out loud would make her look like a lunatic, so instead she thought, hoping that whoever was doing this would hear her. _'If this is me, why can't I control what I'm thinking? Why am I having to communicate with myself?"_  
**'Ah, there we go. See, we're a smart cookie aren't we? Why can I speak for myself? To be honest, I don't know. You created me and I have access to a certain part of your personality. The part you're not** **using.'**  
'_If I created you, how come I don't remember it? Whoever you are, get out of my head. I'm already on the way to the Hokage's, I'll report you no matter what rank you are.'  
_**'That wouldn't work. Listen, I'm here to help. We both know that you..._We_** **broke after finding out about Dad. You needed protection, somebody on your side. Somebody to look out for you. But all you have is yourself. So you made me. I guess I'm like an imaginary friend or** **something'**  
_'So you're...Like an inner me? I am crazy aren't_ I?'  
**'Yeah a bit. But the point is, I'm here to be your drive and to remind you of the promise you made to Mom and Dad. You are not letting Sasuke-kun control whether you get stronger or not. You don't need him to train, and you don't need his approval. Go to the training grounds yourself and start. You don't need a buddy. He doesn't have one. You need to stop moping and thinking of all the reasons you can't do this.'**

_'Maybe you're right...' _Sakura thought. This was still all weird and new to her. But was it really so bad to have somebody egging you on to do better? Even if she was crazy with her little 'inner self' she'd use crazy to her advantage. _'We'll go to the Hokage tower first. Then train'_ Sakura smiled...A real smile that lit her face up. A sense of confidence hit her. Somebody really was on her side...Even if it was herself.

* * *

***Mitsuba: In Japan, mitsuba is added fresh or cooked to soups, salads, sukiyaki, sashimi, tempura batter, custards, rice, and vinegared foods. All parts of this plant-its leaves, stems, seeds, and roots are edible.**

**Introducing Inner Sakura everybody. Like her entrance? I figured if Sakura is going to keep her sanity she's going to have to have her...even if that in itself is a bit crazy. I know Sakura kind've accepts her fast. But I mean, it's way easier to accept something that's in your own head right? Inner Sakura will be more important towards the beginning but fade as Sakura gains confidence. I'm also planning on using her for genjutsu purposes. Should be fun right? **

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Up next, we have a little time skip and start the Zabuza arc. Who wants to see what our three little genin have learned?**


	6. C6: A Real Mission To Come

**Well, to start off this chapter I'll do as I did in my last one and respond to comments/questions**

**LazuliLAnime25-**** Damn my grammatical errors! Sorry, grammar is something I constantly have to work at. I often go back into chapters to fix mistakes. As for your question about finding out Sasuke's thoughts. I think I may do that in the next chapter. But it will be brief. There won't really be exact thoughts, more of him mentioning rejecting her in his head. I guess you'll see haha.**

**Guest-**** Dang I wish I could figure out who all you guests are. You always seem to have the most in depth questions/comments. Well guest your suggestion actually links into my plan. What with her skill set and things. I don't want to spoil what I'm giving her (don't worry, it won't be some made up kekkei genkai or anything like that) her skill set will be more prone to hurting. But I'm still having her eventually be a medic because she'd wish that she could have helped her father. She'd believe if she was a medic she would've seen the poison and such.**

**Cherry Blossom's Age- That is a good question and I don't find it rude at all. To be honest, I do like other characters more than Sasuke. But he just has so much to work with and I loved this story idea. I kinda like to whore Sakura around I guess haha but these are probably my top pics for other relationships (besides Deisaku but that wouldn't fit into this fic at all). But the other very big reason I decided to have a side couple is because of Sasuke. Think about it (WARNING, SPOILERS IN THE FOLLOWING FEW SENTENCES) Sasuke never appreciated his dad until he was gone. He never thought he was weak until he tasted the power of the curse mark. He never realized what a good brother he had until he'd already killed him. He never pushed blame for the Uchiha murder on the real culprit until he'd nearly killed his friends and destroyed konoha. (END OF SPOILERS) Sasuke is king of 'didn't know until it was too late'. I feel he would never realize any real sort of feelings for Sakura if it were just him and her all the time. He'd know she like him, know she was there, and then use every excuse not to give into feelings. If somebody else starts to court her, he'll start to see what he's losing. Otherwise it would be harder for me to mix affection into the story.**

**Here's the voting poll for pairings I think I'm cutting off the voting in chapter eight. So try to get yours in before then.**

**GaaSaku-12**

**KibaSaku-7**

****NejiSaku-5****

**Who's ready to move onto the story?**

* * *

**Tainted Blossom**

**'A Real Mission To Come'**

It had been a week, a whole week of these STUPID D-ranked missions. Sasuke was ready to snap. After painting that old lady's house they had to paint a fence, scrub graffiti (of which he was sure Naruto created) and deliver mail to civilians. These were petty jobs that Konoha's people were too damn lazy to do themselves. Sasuke glared at the golden retriever walking in front of him. Said dog was oblivious to his hateful stare, wagging it's tail happily as it's head rocked back and forth to observe it's surroundings. Today they were walking dogs. It was utterly ridiculous to be wasting time like this when they should be training.

It wasn't that team seven hadn't been training. The days they weren't doing moronically simple tasks they would work. But as of now they hadn't even worked on ninjutsu. Everything had been taijutsu and accuracy based. Kakashi had said they needed to be good at the basics before he'd even try to teach them anything more advanced. Sasuke feared he'd never move to the next level; as once again, his teammates were holding him back. Naruto had power, but he had issues blocking and predicting an opponents attack. The dumb blonde utterly failed when it came to accuracy though. He couldn't hit a target as big as the Hokage Tower. Then Sakura, she was the opposite of Naruto. She could block and anticipate moves but her strength was close to that of a common eight year old in the world of a ninja. He'd give her some credit though, her accuracy was a thousand times better than Naruto's...Yet still not his level.

Thinking of his teammates, Sasuke looked over his shoulder. Naruto was following after him...Well...More like the gigantic sheepdog the dobe had chosen to walk was following him, Naruto was just being dragged along. Behind him was Sakura whom was carrying a Yorkie and walking a beagle -for some reason she'd insisted on taking two- she was lagging behind the two of them, looking at the ground with a glazed look in her eye. Sasuke faced forward with a slight frown. Ever since Sakura had returned to training she'd been different. She didn't yell at Naruto nearly as much as she used to and Sasuke hadn't even seen her hit him once. She didn't ask him to go on dates anymore, instead just disappeared after training every day. She distanced herself physically from them all the time...Heck, she didn't even smile as much anymore; and thanks to Naruto he could tell when they were real or not. Was this because of him rejecting her again? No, she'd never been affected by his rejections before. Then again, she'd never asked to train with him before. But he didn't need her there pretending to be weak just so he'd 'help her' and even if she really did want help he didn't have time to try to teach her basics that she should've known before they graduated from the academy. That's not how you became stronger, that's not how he'd kill his brother.

"Hey! Stop! Heel! Sit! Bad dog!" Sasuke looked behind himself once more to see Naruto being draged to the right towards the forest. The tiny blonde pulled at the dog with all his might...Yet the 'mighty beast' leisurely walked to it's chosen destination with little resistance. "Sakura-chan! Help!" Naruto called pathetically. Sasuke nearly scoffed, what was she going to do? Join him on the leash getting dragged? He realized that was probably exactly what the pinkette would do. She'd probably drop her dogs in the process, they'd get lost and he'd be left to clean up the mess. How sad would it be to fail a D-rank mission? Sasuke narrowed his eyes, prepared to concur the chaos before it began. Surprisingly, Sakura didn't join Naruto. She didn't respond at all. Sasuke peered at the girl to see her head still down on the ground, watching herself kick a stone as she walked forward in a daze.

"Sakura-channnn!" Naruto begged, now wrapping his body around a tree to help anchor the dog. Sasuke was getting annoyed fast. He walked towards Naruto with a scowl. "Dobe. Why'd you choose the biggest dog when you're the smallest one of us?" he scolded. Naruto stuck his tongue out-as if he somehow had an upper hand with his entire body pressed up against a tree-"You're just jealous because I'm better than you" he gloated. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, what was the idiot rambling about now? "I'm stronger than you, so I have the biggest dog." he restated. If he wasn't an Uchiha...He would've facepalmed right then and there. Sasuke looked to his dog, the retriever sad next to his feet obediently while the sheepdog still seemed to be trying to reach something in the forest. A smirk spread across the Uchiha's lips as he crouched down slightly to pick up a stick. Naruto's eyes immediatly widened "W-What are you doing Teme" he demanded. Sasuke simply waved the stick a bit, getting both of canine's attention. "Don't you da-" he threw the stick, pulling on his own leash to anchor the smaller retriever. Naruto wasn't so lucky as the stick cleared a fence and the sheepdog went bounding after it, prying the blonde from the tree and dragging him along. "TEMEEEEE"

* * *

"TEMEEEEEE" BOOM, BOOM, BOOM Sakura jumped at the sudden noises. She looked to her right to find Naruto very literally being dragged through a mine field by a very excited sheepdog. The young girl sweatdropped. How had they even gotten in there? She turned to look at Sasuke, thinking her might have the answer. Said boy had moved from his previous spot on the trail ahead of her. Instead he stood on the edge of the forest, looking away from her and wiping dirt off his hands. '**He threw the stick**' a familiar voice sounded in her head. Sakura rolled her eyes '_no. Really?'_ she responded sarcastically. 'Hey, I'm just pointing out the obvious' inner replied. As much as that voice Sakura had named 'Inner' (AKA: Inner Sakura) helped her out, it could be irritating. Inner seemed to have comments about a lot of things. It kind of bothered Sakura how much she was around. But she wasn't about to complain about her 'guardian angel'. Instead Sakura looked at Sasuke whom finally met her eye "That wasn't vey nice Sasuke-kun" she muttered with a half smile, it was mildly funny after all, seeing Naruto dodging the mines as the dog happily pranced around.

Sasuke gave her a confused look. Sakura's eyes widened for a moment before she blushed and looked away, panicking. She'd just scolded Sasuke! Even if it was in a nice way she scolded him! She never scolded Sasuke! Where had that come from?! **'You're welcome'** Inner sounded. '_You did that?!_' Sakura screeched in her head. **'No, that was all you, I just gave you the confidence to say it out loud'** Sasuke scoffed a little and turned back towards the trail, starting to walk. _'Oh no, he's mad, I made him mad'_ Sakura panicked. **'But look at that. He didn't call you annoying, or weak, or useless, or-'**  
_'I get it'_  
**'Okay but he didn't put you down'**  
_'Yeah...You're right'_  
**'It's because you've started to change. You're getting on the path to getting stronger and you know it'**  
Sakura just smiled. BOOM her attention was pulled back to the fence as Naruto came flying up over it, landing in a heap in front of her. The sheepdog followed, jumping the fence and landing next to the boy, stick in mouth, tail wagging, completely unscathed. Sakura covered her mouth, resisting the urge to laugh. She had to admit, if there was anybody that could make her laugh, it was Naruto. He did the most idiotic things. "Are you okay?" Sakura asked, holding in her giggle and crouching down next to the singed, dizzy boy. Naruto gave her the best smile he could in his state "Of course Sakura-chan. After all, i'm going to be Hokage some day. This isn't going to hold me back" Sakura smiled at his attitude. She didn't belive this knucklehead could ever be in charge of the whole village, but he was more confident and driven than she'd ever been. "Now excuse me while I kill the Teme" Nauro muttered, pushing himself up. He handed the sheepdog's leash gently to Sakura before turning around "TEME!" and dashing towards the other boy before sakura could say a thing.

Hands now full, there wasn't much Sakura could do to stop their tussle. Naruto tackled Sasuke who was struggling to get said boy off without yanking his own dog about. For some reason, seeing her teammates fight made Sakura calmer. They may say that they're enemies. But she had a feeling that the two weren't so hateful towards each other deep down. Sakura was glad they hadn't said anything about her behavior, she'd been afraid all week that she was going to blow one of her, now many, secrets. That one of them was going to find out she wasn't living at home anymore, instead in an apartment complex across the street from the hospital. That they'd figure out she went to the hospital every day after training (And self training after that); Where she was currently learning the basics of a field medic (Mostly bandaging, learning vital spots that needed to be attended to first, and setting bones). Or worst of all, they'd figure out about her parents. She didn't want to be a burden. Sasuke's whole clan was killed, Naruto never even knew his parents, they'd both grown up alone. She didn't need to add to her team's despair. She didn't want to act like her troubles were matched to theirs, she at least got to her teens with them. Most of all she didn't want them to know what she did. That she'd killed her own father. Under special circumstances, but she could barely stomach the thought herself, they'd never understand.

A sudden tug from her right pulled Sakura from her thoughts. The sheepdog was moving. "Heel?" Sakura called unsurely. As she'd feared, the sheepdog didn't listen. He was walking towards the forest, eyes set on something, looking like he was about ready to run after something. The movement drew the attention of the beagle-also held in her right hand-whom started to stalk forward in sync with the other. "Um...Guys?" Sakura called out towards the tussling boys. The yorkie squirmed in her left arm but she didn't dare let the little guy go. She dug her heels into the ground which only accomplished in making skid marks as she slid towards the forest. Sakura looked ahead and spied a very scared looking squirrel a good couple meters away. The frightened animal was taking small paces backwards, which caused the dogs...And Sakura...To lurch forward.

Suddenly the squirrel took off. Sakura tried to hold her ground as her arm shot out with both dogs pulling her. The pinkette grit her teeth as the leashes went taught, pulling her forward and onto the ground. She got a nice face full of dirt while protecting the small Yorkie from her body weight before skidding across the bumpy ground. The tiny dog in Sakura's arms wiggled free and dashed out toward the squirrel, Sakura tried in vein to grab the pup but missed before she nearly slammed into a tree trunk. This squirrel had to be some kind of stupid that it had yet to climb a tree. That or it was some demonic animal that just wanted to torture her...She wouldn't be surprised.

Just as Sakura thought she was going to lose her grip on the two beasts she had left, there was a loud 'poof', and suddenly she'd stopped moving. The female of team seven looked upwards from her sprawled out position on the ground. Both dogs were sitting down obediently, heads dropped down in submission. In front of them was a familiar silver haired Jonin holding a small Yorkie. Sakura would've laughed at the sight of her sensai holding such a feminine dog if she wasn't so relieved the man had stopped the rampaging mongrels. "Yo. Looks like you needed some help" Kakashi said, eye crinkling with a smile.

* * *

Pissing him off today really wasn't a good idea. Oh how Sasuke wanted to bash the little blonde's head in. But he wasn't going to release or harm the dog still attached to him. So the ravonette was left to fend off the knucklehead with one hand. The idiot only managed to hype the dog up and get the two tangled in the damn leash. "You idiot!" Sasuke yelled. Naruto was sitting on top of him, arms pinned to his sides by the red leash. Said leash was still attached to Sasuke's right hand which had somehow ended up between his legs and was now being sat on by the dobe. Oh...Did he mention that along with Naruto's arms, Sasuke's right leg was pinned to the idiot's side? Yeah, the dog had circled them right when he'd kicked the dobe. Now the mutt was sitting next to them, happily wagging it's tail and panting. Sasuke gave the hound a death glare.

"Sakura-chan help us!" Naruto called out. Sasuke's glare shifted to the blonde. He did NOT need help. Especially not Sakura's. It was an insult to even ask the weakest link for assistance. "Sakura-chan? Hey...Where'd she go?" Sasuke's glare shifted to the path behind Naruto. Sure enough...Sakura was missing. Where the hell did she go? Sasuke glanced around the tree line of the path, maybe she'd just left them...But that was more of something he'd do, not her. That's when the Uchiha noticed the skid marks on the ground, followed by a very human looking print in the dirt. Sasuke's gaze returned to the confused blonde that was still tied to him. "Don't tell me you gave your dog to Sakura too" he asked through gritted teeth.  
"Yeah I did, Wh- ooh...OOH shoot! Sakura-chan!" that's when Naruto finally decided to stand, dragging Sasuke's leg with him to leave said boy on his upper back. "Okay, lets untangl-" Sasuke found himself being dragged forward before Naruto was on the ground again. The idiot apparently forgot they were attached and wasn't prepared for the anchor of both Sasuke and the dog. "Dobe.." Sasuke muttered with a sigh.

"And I thought Sakura was the one who was having issues with the dogs" ooh, if he could take a swing at Kakashi right now he would. Sasuke looked over to see the Jonin standing a few feet away, sheep dog sitting patiently at his feet, and Yorkie in hand. Sakura stood behind him, holding the Beagle's leash and trying to wipe the dirt that caked her front off. She had a frown on her face and didn't even look over at the two of them. "Couldn't you just slip out of the loop on the leash and get free Sasuke?" Kakashi inquired, obviously mocking him. Kakashi wasn't dumb enough to miss the way Sasuke had wrapped the overly long leash around his hand to control the dog better, the idea had backfired. The Uchiha just growled, he would've gotten himself out of this ten minutes ago if he wasn't sure that the canine would run off or get hurt in the process. "Just unwrap us" he commanded as calmly as he could. Kakashi didn't move a muscle. "I don't know...Your play time with each other put your teammate in danger. Who's idea was it to give your lightest teammate the largest dog?" Kakashi scolded.

Sasuke was about to get mad. He was about to call out his sensei when a defeated sigh came from Sakura. She looked...Disappointed? Was that aimed at them? Didn't she know it was all the dobe's fault? Even so, since when was she ever disappointed in him? Since when did he even care? Sakura approached the two of them, the look still in her eyes. But the look wasn't directed towards them. Sakura wasn't even looking at them...Well, her eyes were on them, but not focusing on either of the boys. Her disappointment was focused somewhere else. Usually the stoic Uchiha wouldn't even notice these things. It was all Naruto's fault, he started paying more attention to Sakura because that idiot was better at reading her. In fact, Sasuke could tell Naruto had picked up on her demeanor before he did. Why else would the idiot be quiet for more than three minutes?

Sakura untangled the two boys with little trouble. The retriever apparently liked her much more than the boys, it followed her commands to come without hesitation. Sakura had the mutt retrace it's steps and free her teammates without any issues. "Gee, thanks Sakura-chan" Naruto commented. The glaze over Sakura's eyes faded with the boy's words. "No problem Naruto" she gave him one of those fake smiles Sasuke wished Naruto had never pointed out to him. Naruto must be better at acting than he thought, because the boy pretended he didn't see it, just nodding with that wide smile of his. Sasuke looked over at Kakashi, about to take one of the mongrels from him, when the hyperactive blonde spoke up again. "Sensei! We're tired of these stupid missions! Anyone could do these. I'm training to be Hokage some day, I need better missions than this, believe it!" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at Kakashi.

The Jonin looked down at his student, feeling two other sets of eyes on him as well. He knew if he looked up at either of the other members on team seven he'd see agreement...perhaps even pleading, in their eyes. "After nearly failing a D-rank mission?" he asked, patronizing his students. Sasuke glared at the silver haired man as Naruto's mouth fell open, ready to retaliate with volume. Before he could, Kakashi raised his hand, silencing him "I'll tell you what, after we return these dogs home we'll stop by the Hokage tower. If he has any low C-ranked missions we'll take it. Happy?" he announced. Team seven would never know that he was already planning on doing just that today. Naruto's bright smile returned to his face as he jumped into the air, fist raised "Yeah! C-ranked missions! I'm gonna be the best!" he shouted with glee.

* * *

A mix of emotions swirled in Sakura's gut as her team stood in front of Hiruzen's desk. There was excitement for the mission, nervousness for the very same reason...And a bit of shame. Sakura remembered back to earlier in the day when Kakashi was scolding the boys. _"Who's idea was it to give your lightest teammate the largest dog?"_ just the way he had said it. Sakura knew what he really meant. _"Why would you give the weakest team member the largest dog?"_ The thing that saddened her is she couldn't argue with the point. She hadn't been able to control the dogs. How could she take on another human being when an animal with half the brain cells bested her? _'He's right, I'm weak'_ Sakura thought, her gaze shifting to the floor once more. **'Do you even hear yourself right now?'**  
_'Can't you go away for five minutes?'_  
**'Not until you grow a backbone! You're too fast to have a little pity party that you don't realize Naruto couldn't control the dog either. At least you didn't get dragged through a mine field!'**  
_'I still let a dog take me down. A dog!'_  
**'Well get over it honey, because we're moving onto C-class missions. As soon as you stop to mope, you're dead. Is that what you want?'**  
_'...No'_  
**'Thought so'**

A noise behind her made Sakura jump. The door into the office had slid open. Standing in the frame was an elderly man who wreaked of booze. His eyes were red and he was obviously a bit tipsy. He didn't even have the respect to lose the bottle of sake still positioned in his hand. "These brats are going to be escorting me?" he asked loudly "They don't look capable of walking home on their own...'specially the stupid looking one"  
"Hah, he called you stupid Sasuke"  
"See wha' I mean? Can't even tell when someone's talkin 'bout him" Naruto narrowed his eyes.  
"You're really asking for it old man!"  
"Like a pipsqueak like you could hurt me"  
"I'll have you know I'm going to be Hokage one day!"  
The man laughed heartily, holding his gut "You will never be Hokage"  
"Why you!" Naruto lunged but Kakashi grabbed him from the air with a sigh.  
"You know Naruto, this mission would not be off to a good start if you attacked the client"  
"But he's a total jerk!" Naruto yelled from his perch in Kakashi's arms. Tazuna just chuckled again and took a swig from his sake bottle.

The Hokage cleared his throat, bringing attention back to him, "This is Tazuna. You will be escorting him back to the land of waves" he announced.  
"What's so special about him that he needs an escort anyway?" Naruto huffed, arms crossed as he was lowered back to the ground.  
"I'm very important you little runt! I'm a bridge builder. The land of waves depends on me" Naruto just scoffed.  
"There's nothing special about a bridge old man." Tazuna glared at the child half his size.  
"I'm the one paying your way boy, you better show some respect." Naruto was about to speak again until his mouth was covered. He turned his head to find Sakura shaking her head at him. The blonde sulked, but did as she instructed. Kakashi took a scroll from Hiruzan before nodding "Everybody meet at the front gates by seven am" he announced. Tazuna glared at the floor, obviously not happy with the selected time, but not stupid enough to argue with the copy nin. "Dismissed" Hiruzan announced. Everybody replied with a bow before exiting his office. The old man chuckled a little bit, he'd been containing himself throughout Naruto and Tazuna's whole argument. Maybe the mission wasn't going to be as boring as he'd assumed.

Sakura split off from her teammates as soon as they exited the building. Kakashi had beaten her to it and already disappeared and Naruto had somehow picked up on her mood and not asked her out to ramen. For once, Sakura didn't really care that it left Sasuke to brood, or sulk...Or do whatever he did when he was off on his own. Today she had business to attend to. If she couldn't get physically strong fast enough, she'd have to use her head...As always.

The rosette entered Konoha's hospital to be greeted by the head medic, Choruno Hishi. "Sakura, I thought you'd be here later tonight, didn't you have a mission?"  
"It was an easy mission Hishi-sama. I actually came because I have a request on what I want to learn today."  
Hishi raised a brow, "And that would be?"  
"I want you to teach me about poisons"  
Hishi winced at this, as if he'd been expecting -and dreading- this to come up. "Sakura, poisons are very complicated to learn about, and very dangerous. There are thousands of different kinds and different leve-"  
"I know. And I know I can do this. Just teach me and I promise I'll be one of the best students you've ever had" she argued confidently.  
"Are you sure you're not doing this because of...Them?" he asked. Hishi was one of the very few people that knew about her parents. It wasn't exactly Sakura's choice. But who else would've done the poison analysis besides their top medic? It would be impossible for him not to know. That still didn't stop Sakura's face from dropping, her hurt showing in her eyes. _'No, I'm strong!_' she told herself before shaking her head and meeting Hishi's eye once more. "Maybe a part of this does have to do with them. But I have other reasons. I'm not the strongest, but I'm extremely accurate with weapons. I've memorized nearly every textbook I've ever read and could recite the entire book of shinobi code to you if you'd like. I know I can do this. I know I'll be good at this" _'Because I'll work until I am the best_' she finished in her head. Hishi sighed, his argument fizzled out in his throat. The look in Sakura's eyes held a determination he had yet to see in her. It would be impossible for him to deny her wish. His only fear was the girl becoming obsessed with the poison that killed her parents. She'd run herself into the ground trying to figure it out without the experience he held...The experience that was turning out to be useless against this man made virus. He had to have faith in her though. If she really wanted to do this, he wouldn't stop her. "Okay" Hishi breathed out.

A genuine smile spread across Sakura's lips.

* * *

**That's it for this chapter. I know I said the Zabuza arc would start...Well...It kinda did. Cut me some slack, I got inspired! It also shrank a bit in size compared to the last chapter. But I wanted a bit of a build up. I wanted to get a little bit inside Sakura and Sasuke's heads before the mission and needed one more time skip for an idea I aquired for Sakura. So guess you're going to have to wait just one more chapter before the real action begins. Fear not, I have some good ideas coming up that I think you'll enjoy.**

**Thank you everyone for your comments, follows and favorites. Please continue to give me feedback, I love it! **


	7. C7: A Change In Rank

**Alright. Lets start off another chapter with responses**

**DarkGlintingEmerald- To answer your question. This is indeed a Sasusaku, which is why Sasuke is getting more curious with Sakura. The voting on pairings if for an underlying side pairing to help with the story. If you look at the past chapter's responses to feedback I explain why I believe there should be a mini-pairing. But this is going to be a Sasusaku. **

**LazuliLAnime25- Ah no problem, I thoroughly enjoy your feedback. As for Hishi, yes, he's a character I added in. He won't be huge, but I figured there had to have been a head medic before Tsunade and Shizune so I created him.**

**Guest- Don't worry. Her training later on will be in depth. But as this time she's only starting for one night and it's the beginning of training with poison I'm doing a time skip. I don't think you want to sit there reading about her reading the different kinds of poisons and types. That's pretty much what he had her do. And as for the skip before with some training it was again due to her only learning the basics. She pretty much went through CPR training and watched checkups and such. She hasn't done anything intense or exciting yet. I wanted it to be realistic in that sense but not bore you guys with details of it.**

**Elder Sibling- You probably aren't following my story to read this. But I'm acknowledging you as my first bout of negative feedback. Yayyy! As I'm sure you won't be continuing to read such a 'useless' story I'm still going to speak to anyone else who's reading this comment. I appreciate all feedback positive and negative. If I'm told my writing is bad, as you have told me, I'm just going to set out to improve it and hopefully increase the value of this story to those who do follow and read it.**

**To those of you who comment giving purely positive feedback. I want to thank you as well. You don't exactly have questions or comments that require responses but I appreciate it completely. It's definitely incentive to keep going.**

**Here's the votes for underlying pairings:**

**GaaSaku-14**

**KibaSaku-8**

**NejiSaku-6**

**I'll give it one more chapter (to be finished at chapter 8) and then I'm cutting off the votes. So you KibaSaku and NejiSaku lovers better rush in or it looks like it'll be Gaasaku.**

**Now onto the story!**

* * *

**Tattered Blossom**

**'A Change In Rank'**

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_ That darn alarm clock again. Sakura's eyes opened slowly, the first thing she noticed was a terrible crick in her neck. Reaching back to rub said crick, Sakura sat up...Only to find herself in the chair at her desk. She looked down to find an embarrassing smear of drool on the open page of the medical book Hishi had given her. More specifically an index of poisons. Sakura was midway through the I's before she'd fallen asleep last night. He'd told her before she could learn how to use anything in a real situation, she'd have to memorize all of these. Sakura wasn't stupid, she knew that he didn't have all of these memorized...Most yes, but not all. He was skeptical of her getting into poisons because of her dad. She could see that. But she didn't care. Maybe he was right, maybe it would be bad for her because she already desperately wanted to know what that poison was. But she figured it could be good too. Not only would learning about poison get her a step closer to figuring out what exactly happened to her father and preventing it from happening to anyone else, but from what she'd been reading, it was great to use in battle.

The constant ring of the alarm clock was still going across the room. Sakura stood and turned it off. Today was the mission and she got a total of -she turned to glance at the clock again- five hours of sleep...That wasn't too bad right? Sakura shook her head, wiping the crust from her eyes and the small glob of dried drool off her chin. It was more than enough. Nothing was going to keep her from doing her best today. She'd been training herself for a week now with accuracy and taijutsu, learned first aid, trained with the boys and had nearly half of the poisons in the index memorized. She was feeling good, feeling strong...Feeling confident...Which was new without the help of Inner.

The young girl changed into her new attire once more, tying her Hitai-ate around her head to finish off the look, before leaving her new apartment. Sakura never really used to lock her door. Konoha was always safe, especially since her house had been right in the center of the village. The ANBU would've stopped any threat before it could get to her. But she'd developed a habit of locking up now. Maybe it was the living alone thing. Maybe it was an after effect from the incident; Either way, she made sure the door was latched.

As Sakura headed towards the gates, she mentally took inventory of what was in her backpack. Change of clothes, small healthy snacks, water, bandages, a plastic bag (in case she ran across herbs she thought would be useful) and some antiseptic cream. Even with her weapons on her thigh, the bag was a bit heavy. She wasn't used to carrying so much but only reminded herself of how physically weak she was. Sakura told herself she couldn't let the weight bother her during the mission. She wasn't going to be a burden.

Of course she was the first one there. She always was. Punctuality was kind've her thing. Sakura leaned against the gate, looking off towards the trail she'd been told they'd be taking. This would be her first actual trek outside of Konoha. It may be odd, but most civilians didn't have reason to travel outside of the village. There were always a few traveling types and merchants like her father, but other than that Konoha had everything one would need. It wasn't like it was easy to travel right now either. Where would you go? What with the tensions with Sand and Sound rising, nobody wanted to be the straw that broke the camels back. Nobody wanted to accidentally start a war.

* * *

Another night filled with terror. Sasuke glared at the ground, cursing the pebbles under his feet for his terrible luck. Why did those memories have to plague him? They were a constant reminder of what Itachi had done, a constant fuel to his fire that kept him on track towards his goal. But they were also a burden. Sleep deprivation wasn't exactly recommended for any sort of ninja. Your reflexes were a bit slower, your mind a bit more jumbled. He'd never be able to avenge his clan if he couldn't even manage to get a good night's sleep. The Uchiha kicked a stone towards one of the buildings, causing the offending projectile to break in half and fall to the ground. He'd be damned if he let some stupid dreams keep him from getting stronger. Today he was going to prove just how far above of Naruto and Sakura he was. Even if it was just an escort mission, he'd come out on top. Then maybe Kakashi would stop treating him as if he were equal to those two. He'd finally receive the training he needed.

It was no surprise to see Sakura already waiting at the gate. Her long ponytail blowing back in the wind as she looked out into the trees. Odd, she didn't acknowledge him yet. She could usually see him coming a mile away and was sure to greet him as soon as he was in earshot. Sasuke guessed it was for the best, he wasn't in the mood today. The brooding Uchiha walked over to a large rock inside of the gates and sat. It would be at least an hour before Kakashi showed up. And Sasuke would be surprised if they didn't have to go and drag Tazuna out of his bed just to bring him here. "Oh, good morning Sasuke-kun" Sakura's acknowledged. Sasuke didn't even turn his head, just looked at the rosette out of the corner of his eye and mumbled his signature 'Hn'. He really wasn't going to deal with her today. Her odd behavior be damned, there would be no distractions.

It was easy to see the pink tresses of hair drop from the corner of his eye as Sakura stared at her shoe. It really didn't take much to put her down did it? Weak. She was 'hurt' over not recieving a response while he was haunted with horrors from the past and managed to keep his head held high. A shinobi wasn't supposed to show their emotions. Showing weakness like that over a few words was stupid. She was annoying. To his mild surprise, Sakura didn't pout as long as she usually did. Her head came back up...As she decided to walk into his direct line of sight. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Couldn't she tell he didn't want to speak with her. Now was not the time to pine after him like some love sick puppy. "I've been training a bit...on my own..." she spoke softly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, what in the world would make her think he cared? Good for her, she needed the training the most anyway. Sasuke was half convinced that Sakura was lying, she was probably lying about something as simple as training just so he'd recognize her. After all, he'd turned her down to 'train' with her. The rosette didn't notice...or most likely didn't care that he wasn't responding and continued "So I want you to know I'm not going to be a burden". Her voice came out hard and strong, louder than before. Jade and onyx clashed as Sakura made a point of meeting his eyes. As if it would convince him of her words. The funny thing was, it nearly did. That the determined fire apparent in her eyes nearly swayed him to think she might actually be capable of something. Then Sasuke remembered this was in fact Sakura Haruno and just scoffed, turning his head away from her.

Once again, Sakura didn't act as expected, she didn't shrink back with his dismissal. Didn't pout as he refused to recognize what she was saying. Instead a faint smile spread across her lips, "You'll see" she said. Sasuke nearly scoffed again, but that contradict his point of acting like he wasn't listening. "Mornin' Sakura-chan!" a painfully loud voice called. The dobe had arrived. "Good morning Naruto, you ready for the mission?" Sakura responded just as happily as she'd greeted himself. Sasuke furrowed his brows, still not looking at the two. Since when was Sakura ever nice to Naruto? She'd been treating him as if they were friends all week when she'd clearly hated his guts just before. No matter, he didn't really care, the more attention the dobe got, the less he received. "Yeah I am! It's gonna be great! Believe it!" Naruto shouted loud enough for a pair of crows to abandon their perch in a nearby tree. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. Why did he have to be so damn loud? "Dobe, Shu-"

"Shut up brat!" oh great, Tazuna had joined them. At least he sounded sober this time. The raven haired boy finally decided to look at the others. Tazuna was indeed sober, but didn't look happy about it at all. "Hey! I'm talking about protecting you old man! Be grateful!" Naruto shouted back, pointing his finger and stomping his feet like an upset child. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the very same time Tazuna did. "Let's just get this over with kid. Where's your sensei? That silver haired guy with the weird mask"

"Hey! Be resp-" Sakura covered the raving blonde's mouth before he could continue.

"Our sensei hasn't arrived yet sir. I'm sure he'll show up soon" she offered with a forced smile. Tazuna glared at Naruto one more time before leaning against the gate facing the three of them. "He better, I'm not going anywhere with just you three runts." Sasuke glared at the man. Insulting Naruto was one thing. Naurto was half the things that Tazuna called him. But pairing the three of them in the same category? No. He should know better than judging shinobi of any age, especially without seeing what they could do. Sasuke could kill him in a second if he really wanted to. It wouldn't be hard. How many normal kids could say that? Exactly.

* * *

Kakashi was faster to show up than usual, only arriving half an hour later. Probably due to this being an actual mission. Sadly, the half hour had felt like three to the group. Every few minutes Tazuna would complain about waiting and Naruto would challenge him...Only to complain himself another few minutes later and get scolded by Tazuna. Then Sasuke would get irritated and command everyone to be quiet only to be answered back by both irritated men. Sakura would evidently have to defuse the situation by bringing up some blatantly random fact and awkwardly silencing everyone. "About time" Tazuna mumbled under his breath, acknowledging the fact that he shouldn't scold such a high ranked shinobi...To his face at least. "You're late sensei!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at the jonin accusingly.  
"Am I? I could've sworn I told you guys the right ti-"  
"Save it, liar!"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes as Sakura gave a faint smile. Tazuna openly groaned. How could these people be so...so...Immature. Sure there were three kids, but the jonin too?! He feared this mission wasn't going to go well...Not with the information he was sitting on. "Well, since we're all here, let's head out" Kakashi announced. Everybody eagerly got to their feet and the group left the village.

Sasuke and Naruto took the lead. Each one seeming to quicken their pace every few steps to get ahead of the other. It was stupid, but Sasuke wasn't going to walk behind the dobe. It would be a cold day in hell that he let anyone think he was following that idiot, physically or morally. Behind them was Tazuna...Who had started drinking again. He wasn't drunk, not even tipsy, but he kept talking quick swigs as he looked around the path. If the boys hadn't been so far ahead they may have noticed the nervous look on the man's face. Behind him, Kakashi and Sakura walked side by side. Kakashi was somehow reading while walking and Sakura was watching Tazuna with furrowed brows.

It was odd, the walk was actually silent for a while. The boys' mini battle was a quiet one as they glared at each other and the other three were apparently caught up in their own agenda. Finally, Kakashi shut his book with a loud slap. Everyone turned to the silver haired man with a confused look. "Since it's such a long walk, we may as well learn something right?" he stated, his eye crinkling with a smile. "Who knows what chakra is?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and resisted groaning. This was academy stuff. Chakra was their energy, what gave them power. Come on. Of course, Sakura rambled off some perfectly recited textbook answer. The Uchiha had zoned out as soon as Naruto asked a stupid question and the girl started to break down the entire history and usage of chakra. He swore she'd be better as a teacher, she could spew out text as if it were her job.

"Very good Sakura, just as I'd expect from one of the top students" Kakashi eyed Sasuke up as if telling him to join the conversation. The Uchiha turned his head away with a scowl. He wouldn't stoop to this level, he wasn't five. "Oh, watch out for that puddle Sakura" Kakashi spoke. The konochi was a mere step from submerging her foot into the puddle. She looked down with her foot in mid-air before stepping around with a sheepish smile "Thanks Kakashi-sensai". That's when Sasuke realized something...It was impossible for there to be a pudd- Two men formed out of the liquid and pushed past Sakura, lunging at Kakashi. In mere moments the jonin was wrapped in a razored chain. "Got you" one gloated from behind his mask before the both of them pulled. And their sensei was literally ripped to shreds.

Sakura screamed, Naruto and Tazuna froze with looks of horror adorning their faces, Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "First one" one of the masked men muttered. The two looked over each of the kids. Sasuke had drawn a shurikun and a kunai and Sakura was in the process of drawing a kunai of her own. Naruto was still frozen. The two deduced the blonde would be the easiest target and immediately charged him, getting on either side of the boy with their chain between them, just as they'd done to Kakashi. "Second one" the same nin muttered. Naruto's eyes widened with fear, he trembled a moment. 'That idiot!' Sasuke thought as he turned towards his teammate, jumping into the air towards the three ninja. "Naruto move!" Sakura screeched. Sky blue eyes blue eyes blinked. As if just remembering he was a ninja, Naruto dashed to the side in an attempt to get out of the way. It didn't look like he was going to make it. 'Clink' both men froze in actio. The middle of their chain was now connected to a tree by a familiar shurikun. With another throw, Sasuke had anchored the shurikun and chain with a kunai. He smirked as both nin looked up only to be met with the soles of his shoes. The supposedly higher ranking ninjas flew back with the force of the genin's kick, the chain detaching from their clawed glaces. Finally bringing to light their experience, both men landed on their feet just a moment after Sasuke's own hit the ground."You twerp" one yelled, angry at being bested by a kid. He threw a clawed jab at Sasuke, one that would surely cut into his chest. But the Uchiha was quick to dodge, bending backwards in order for the hand to swiftly fly overhead. With another smirk, Sasuke latched onto the man's arm with both hands before swinging his foot up to connect with the nin's jaw. As soon as contact was made he released the man's arm and sent him into the air. The other nin had once again gone for Naruto who had finally drawn a kunai and seemed to doing his best to protect his face with the small weapon. Sakura moved in front of Tazuna, making sure he wasn't left unattended.

These ninja were obviously not rookies, they wouldn't defeated by mere genin. The man landed almost gracefully from Sasuke's kick, his hand moving his jaw as if he'd simply slept on it wrong and acquired an ache. "Go for the bridge builder" He suddenly called to his partner. As soon as those words left his mouth, he zoomed to the left, heading past Sasuke. The other nin pulled back, but not before cutting Naruto's arm and kicking him in gut which sent him to the ground. Both nin then sped toward Tazuna...Whom was being meagerly blocked by Sakura.

"Stay behind me" the konochi commanded. She lifted her drawn kunai and held a battle ready stance. Sasuke's eyes widened. This was two on one. Not just that. But two experienced ninja vs Sakura of all people. Even if she could manage to block one, the other would tear her to pieces. The look in her eye told the Uchiha she'd realized that too. But she still held her ground, Kunai out and pointed at the nearest man. She knew she was going to be impaled, probably going to die and going to fail the mission. That fact hit Sasuke like a ton of bricks. As annoying as this girl was...She was his teammate, his...Dare he say friend? It was in that moment that Sasuke seemed to understand exactly why he needed a team. If it had been just him and Tazuna, the bridge builder would most likely be dead already...Now it was Sakura that was going to be killed. No more 'good-morning Sasuke-kun', no more bright smiles that she reserved just for him, no more hearing her bicker with the dobe...A protective fire seemed to ignite in him and with speed Sasuke never knew he possessed, he was in front of her. No weapon, arms out to take the blow. The thoughts of his revenge going undone never crossed his mind. There was just a repetition of '_don't let her die'_. He had to protect her.

* * *

Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could she have missed that puddle!? It hadn't rained for days! And now Kakashi was...Kakashi was...'_Get it together Sakura_!' The konochi shook her head to see the two ninja heading towards Naruto. Why was he just standing there?! "Naruto move!"she shrieked, thanking Kami when the blonde actually listened to her and jumped away. At the very same time Sasuke stepped in, effectively saving Natuto. The nin gained their bearings quickly and attacked both of her teammates. Sakura knew she couldn't just leave Tazuna alone to help...No matter how badly she wanted to. He was a civilian, and they didn't know what these guys wanted. Sakura instead watched, her kunai drawn just in case.

Sasuke took on his opponent with finesse and power, hitting the man squarely. Though the adult seemed barely phased. Sakura looked over at Naruto who was struggling more to fend off his opponent. The boy's eyes were wide and glazed over. He hadn't thrown a single strike of his own, only blocked and dodged to protect himself. "Go for the bridge builder" Sakura's attention was drawn back toward Sasuke...Only to find him facing an empty area. Just barely to her right, the man who had spoken ran at her. Sakura narrowed her eyes, setting her feet in front of Tazuna. "Stay behind me" she called as she brought her kunai up. That's when she noticed the other ninja that had been with Naruto, he was barely a second behind the first. To say she wasn't scared would be a lie. To say that she didn't think about moving would be a lie. But Sakura stood her ground in front of the bridge builder. She knew her single kunai would be of no help against the two of them. But she wasn't going to fail the mission. She was going to protect Tazuna with her life, as was the shinobi way. '_I'm not going to be a burden_' her promise rang in her ears as her resolve hardened.

Just as death seemed imminent and the enemy ninja closed in, a blue and white blur blocked Sakura's view. Standing in front of her, arms outstretched...Was Sasuke. Sakura's eyes widened. He had no weapon, no nothing. He was standing there, sheilding her with his own body. "Sasuke-kun!" she couldn't keep from yelling. He was going to be impaled! He was going to die because of her! 'Gak!' Both nin were suddenly grabbed by their necks and pulled to the side. Sakura looked from behind Sasuke to see Kakashi holding both of the men under his arms, defeating them in one foul swoop. "Sasuke, way to think fast. Sakura, I'm glad you stood your ground. Naruto, you were a little late, but good job taking action" the jonin praised as he still held the two men. Sasuke stood up straight, stuffing his hands into his pockets with a smirk. He'd had a feeling Kakashi wasn't dead. He was supposed to be one of the best after all. "Kakashi-sensei! You're alive!" Naruto pointed out what was painfully obvious in excitement. Sasuke took a step forward, hands still in his pockets. "Dobe" he muttered.  
"What did you say teme!?" Naruto countered  
"You're such a scardey cat. If it wasn't for Sakura, you wouldn't have moved at all. Tch, weak" he insulted. For once, Naruto had nothing to say, the blonde looked down at the ground in shame.

"Why didn't you reveal yourself sooner? Naruto was hurt. Their blades were probably poisoned" Sakura exclaimed -not having heard what Sasuke said- while pointing to Naruto's sluggishly bleeding arm. Sakura actually knew the blades were poisoned. When you have twenty talons coming at you at once it's not hard to see the orangish tint on them. She just didn't want to draw attention to what she might know. It was most likely a sedative-like poison anyway. Deadly ones tended to be purple or green. The wound wasn't any sort of gash, just a slice, not even deep so there wouldn't be too much poison anyway. Yet, at the thought of himself being poisoned and possibly dying, Naruto's head snapped up with wide eyes. Kakashi slung both men in his arms on the ground at the base of a tree and swiftly tied them to it. "Naruto sustained a small cut, bleeding out the poison will be easy and quick. As for your question, I had to be sure who their target was. Now I believe Tazuna has some-" Kakashi was cut off by a grunt of pain. Everybody looked over to see Naruto scraping a kunai into his wound. Barely orange tinted blood dripped to the ground followed by regular crimson. "With this blood, I promise to never freeze up in battle again. I will never leave my comrades to fight for themselves" Sakura had never seen Naruto this serious. He watched the blood drip from his arm with a determined glint in his eye.

"That's great and all. But if you don't bandage that wound you'll die of blood loss" now the jonin was all out lying to Naruto. That wound would've scabbed over in a good hour or so, it was't bleeding fast enough to bleed out. Of course, the poor kid didn't know that. He screamed and started flailing his arms around "I don't want to die! I don't want to die" he practically cried as he ran in circles. Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile as Sasuke smirked. "That was mean sensei" Sakura scolded, approaching the panicking blonde and snatching his arm. Naruto's cries stopped as he looked at Sakura like a puppy that just got kicked. Sakura just laughed a little before taking her bag off and grabbing her bandages. She swiftly wrapped his arm just as she'd been taught. The job was done well enough that no blood leaked through the white bandage and comfortably rested on the blonde's arm. "Wow thanks Sakura-chan. It feels good as new" Naruto complimented. Sakura just smiled and slipped the bandages back into her bag.

"As I was saying, Tazuna, you have some explaining to do"

* * *

Sasuke was actually excited. This mission just got a heck of a lot more interesting. Turns out, Tazuna was being hunted down by some 'fat cat' named Gato. Those men were sent to kill him to stop the bridge from ever being built, least they lose control over the village. This was supposed to be more of a B rank than a C rank mission. Kakashi brought up heading back to the village; but a combined protest from the three genin and the fact that Tazuna couldn't afford a B rank escort -hence the lie- got the jonin to let them continue.

The five travelers were currently on a boat, crossing an extremely large river. When Kakashi had tried to question the two shinobi that had ambushed them they'd turned to water and disappeared. But the jonin suspected they wouldn't be trying anything again, saying they were too low of rank. The group soon passed under a gigantic unfinished bridge. It looked to be three quarters of the way done by now and was actually quite eerie with the surrounding fog. "That's your bridge?!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at the large thing. "Shh, Naruto" Sakura smacked the dobe across the back of the head, "we're supposed to be sneaking in. We don't want anyone after Tazuna to see us" she reminded, finger now on her lips to signal he needed to hush. Sasuke had to admit though. He hadn't imagined this monumental concrete fixture when Tazuna had introduced himself as a bridge builder. He'd been thinking of small bridges around villages, simple little contraptions. Not this.

It wasn't long until the squad docked on land. "My house isn't too much farther from here" Tazuna stated as he walked forward, Kakashi at his side. Sasuke slid his hands into his pockets, it just happened to be his natural stance. But before he set off to follow the two adults -and Naruto who'd followed- he felt pressure on his arm. Sasuke's head snapped to the side only to meet two emerald orbs staring at him. Sakura was holding onto his arm still as she bit her lip, seeming to contemplate what she was going to say. Sasuke sighed and brushed the girl's hand off his shoulder. Now wasn't the time for one of her damn love confessions. He faced forward and began to walk once more. "Why did you protect me?" Sakura's voice rang up to him causing him to stop once again.

The rosette took a couple steps towards him, closing the gap with a look of curiosity on her face. Sasuke remained silent for a moment. What could he tell her? That the thought of seeing her die made his stomach churn. That he'd instinctively jumped in front of her to keep her from harms way. She'd never leave him alone if he told her that. "Those who abandon the rules are scum, but those who abandon their teammates are worse than scum" he quoted what Kakashi had told them. "I'm not scum, nor anything worse" he finished matter-of-factly. Sasuke noticed the slight drop to Sakura's face but paid it no mind "Well...Uh...Thank you" she started to stutter. Oh god, not the stutter. Had his answer not been clear enough? He didn't do it for her. It was for the team, for his own future. "But...I don't need you to do that. I promised I wasn't going to be a burden any longer. Next time, I'll fight my own battles" she smiled.

Sasuke was, for lack of better word shocked...If only slightly...By the rosette's words. Had she really just said that? She couldn't protect herself this time, what made her think that she could fight 'next time'? To be honest, Sasuke had expected the stutter and the thank you. He'd expected to regret the decision to come between her and the two ninja. But here she was telling him not to help her, to instead let her die so she could keep her damn pride. It made Sasuke angry for reasons he didn't know. "Tch, once a burden, always a burden" he muttered without any real permission from his brain. The flash of hurt that spread across her face as she recoiled should have been satisfying. But Sasuke knew he was being cruel...Even for him. Which was stupid, he shouldn't care if he insulted her. He was simply telling her the truth. The now angry and confused Uchiha stalked forward, catching up with the others quickly as Sakura followed quietly.

"Everybody get down!" Kakashi suddenly yelled. Nobody argued or asked questions when a well trained shinobi such as himself told them something. And it was a good thing too. Because a human sized sword flew over the entire squad's head, embedding itself in a tree. As everyone stood up, a man came into view, standing on the blade of the sword. Sasuke suddenly had a bad feeling in his gut. This guy looked strong...And he didn't exactly seem to take a liking to their team.

* * *

**Dun dun dunnnn! Cliff hanger. I know I know, I suck. But you'll be getting a nice bit of action in the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed.**


	8. C8: Enter, Zabuza

**Okay...This is the longest it's taken me to post a chapter. I apologize profusely but I re-wrote it a couple times and I've been extremely busy as of late. Anyway. I usually start off my chapters responding to reviews I've gotten. But the reviews for chapter 7 were much more comment oriented than any questions. The only question I received was from LazuliLAnime25 and to answer your question...You're about to find out xD**

**So, moving on to the votes for underlying pairings:**

**GaaSaku-16**

**KibaSaku-10**

**NejiSaku-9**

**That's it everyone! The voting has officially been cut off and it looks like the winner is GaaSaku. Thank you all that participated and for those nineteen people who were hoping to see Kiba or Neji with Sakura, I hope you still enjoy the rest of my story without your selected side pairing. **

**Now without further wait...Here's the story.**

* * *

**Tattered Blossom**

**'Enter, Zabuza'**

The man stood just barely taller than Kakashi, though his height was hard to gauge from his perch in the tree. His entire body faced away from them, his head turned slightly to keep the group in his sights. An attempt to intimidate maybe? It was practically rule one in the shinobi handbook to never turn your back on an enemy, yet this obvious ninja blatantly turned away. Kakashi stood slightly in front of his students, glancing back at them to see that they'd formed a half circle in front of Tazuna, blocking the bridge builder from this stranger, each with weapons drawn. Kakashi would've praised his students had they not been in this situation.

"Who are you? What business do you have here?" Kakashi questioned, his own kunai drawn in front of him as he fell into a defensive position. The man responded with a deep chuckle, "Hatake Kakashi. I thought I was being sent to slaughter mere mice. I have to say, I didn't expect them to send the silver fang. I may have some fun after all." The jonin's visible eye narrowed. This man knew exactly who he was, which meant he had to have either faced him before, or seen Kakashi in some form of bingo book. "If you know who I am, you know what I am capable of. I suggest you leave" he threatened. Again, the man laughed. "I can see you don't recognize me at all; and I thought I was building quite a reputation for myself" finally the stranger turned on his broadsword, facing forward to reveal himself.

Bandages covered the entire bottom half of the man's face, spiky brown hair protruded over his head. An entertained, aggressive look formed in his eyes. As if he were excited for this confrontation. A glimmer of recognition flashed in Kakashi's eyes, he visibly tensed, if only a muscle. "Zabuza...Demon of the mist" he spoke the title of the man lowly. Zabuza half smirked "So the great Hatake does know who I am, I'm flattered." he crouched on the sword, "As much I'm itching to face you, I have a job to do" his hands flashed through signs faster than any of them could follow. A thick mist pulled in towards the group, engulfing Zabuza and shielding him from sight. "Protect the bridge builder" Kakashi ordered the genins. The three students did as told, spreading out around Tazuna in defensive stances of their own. Kakashi glanced around, slowly pulling up his Hitai-ate. '_This is far from a class C mission_' he thought.

* * *

Sakura shifted her head from left to right, squinting desperately into the mist in an attempt to see. The mist was getting thicker, darker, she couldn't see anything. Even Naruto and Sasuke, whom she knew were no more than three feet away from her, were invisible. It was getting hard to breathe. Sakura started to panic, looking around frantically. He could be anywhere, anywhere. That man, Zabuza, who seemed excited to fight their sensei. He had to be strong, he could take any of them out easily, just like Kakashi. They were all going to die. On their first mission. Because of that liar, Tazuna. The rosette was hyperventilating, something about this mist, it...It scared her...Panicked her. She felt naked, vulnerable. She could feel her hand shaking. "Sasuke! Calm down, I will protect my students" Kakashi's voice broke through the cacophony of worry in Sakura's head.

**'Snap out of it Sakura! You heard Kakashi!'** Inner suddenly spoke. Sakura was confused as to why she hadn't spoken up before. But had a feeling it was due to her own emotions. Her entire mind had been engulfed in nervousness to the point she forgot about everything but what may be lurking there. Sakura was thankful Kakashi had spoken, who knows what she might have done; and it seemed even Sasuke had been effected.

Suddenly the mist started to move, it was to her left. Sakura squinted at it. Wait...Zabuza was a mist ninja. She wasn't sure the exact jutsu layout a mist shinobi would have. But would it really be improbable for him to be able to hide his silhouette in the mist? He was jonin level after all (or so she assumed at least). Suddenly the mist bulleted forward on her left, right between her and Sasuke, faster than she could possibly react. "Watch-" Kakashi's warning was interrupted. "Too late!" a raspy deep voice sneered. 'Clang' Sakura whipped around only to be kicked in the shoulder and fall backwards. Landing ungracefully on her bottom, the rosette looked up to see Kakashi in front of Tazuna, two crossed Kunai fending off Zabuza's mighty sword. Her mouth dropped open as she got a glimpse at his face.

Kakashi's mask was down...At least half down. He was glaring at Zabuza, both eyes locked onto the mist nin. One of those eyes...Was red?! Red with a black ring as far as she could see. _'What is that?'_ she thought to herself. The rosette then realized she was still on the ground as the two advanced ninja pushed against each other. To her sides, Sasuke, Naruto and Tazuna -who had actually landed on top of Naruto- were also getting up. It seemed Kakashi had kicked them each out of harms way before blocking the attack. Zabuza had been so fast...How had he even done that?

"Team seven, I need you to get Tazuna out of here. Zabuza is far past your level. You can't possibly win against him" Kakashi stated. Sakura took a moment for her ego to reflate. Kakashi had never completely trashed their skills like that. Saying they had no chance against this guy. But the rosette realized that he wouldn't say this without a reason. Sakura looked to her teammates, seeing turmoil on their faces as well. A dark chuckle brought her attention back to the two jonin. Zabuza was sniggering before he veered his sword diagonally with a grunt. The blade went through Kakashi like butter. Sakura's eyes widened and she very nearly screamed. But once again...Kakashi wasn't dead. His body turned to liquid before sloshing to the ground. Zabuza stared at the water as it fell "Water clone jutsu...How odd" he muttered before a blade met his neck. "Don't move" Kakashi commanded.

Sakura didn't understand why their sensei had told them to leave. It seemed the fight was already over, Zabuza had a kunai to his throat after all. But again, the man just chuckled. "Are you sure you know who I am Kakashi?" Suddenly there was another Zabuza behind the silver haired jonin. The first faltered into water just as Kakashi's clone had earlier. Zabuza swung his blade in an attempt to take Kakashi's head off. Kakashi ducked but couldn't avoid the man's leg. He was launched into the water "Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto yelled as Sakura brought her hands up to her mouth. "Now to finish this" Zabuza stated. Sakura turned towards Tazuna to see Sasuke already standing in front of him. They'd both assumed that the nin would go for his mark. So when he slipped into the water, team seven was left confused.

It wasn't long until Kakashi popped up. He was staring at the water with his brows furrowed. Sakura caught a blur of movement "Kakash-" Zabuza was already above him. The man flew through hand signs and stuck his hand out towards Kakashi. In seconds their sensei was surrounded by a seemingly glowing orb of water. "Hard to fight when you can't move, eh Hatake?" Zabuza taunted as his other hand fell into a symbol. Not a second later did part of the water start to rise and take human shape. Another clone. Kakashi looked towards shore, scanning over the students. The longer Sakura stood there, the more convinced she was that it was a good idea to stay. Kakashi was in danger. He needed help, how strong this guy was be damned. She cared about all of team seven and she wasn't going to be responsible for another person she cared for's death.

"Did you not hear me?! Get out of here! Zabuza has to stay here to hold this jutsu. He'll fight you with his water clone but it can only go so far. Take the bridge builder to safety and complete your mission!" Kakashi shouted towards shore. Sakura gulped, he really wanted them to leave. If anything, that was a reminder of how much trouble he was in. The rosette looked at her teammates only to see Sasuke's gaze harden and fall on the clone, and Naruto glare at the real Zabuza while moving in front of Zabuza with Sasuke. The three of them briefly met gazes. Sakura smiled. They weren't going anywhere. She quickly moved between the two boys in front of Tazuna. "We can't leave you Kakashi...Those who abandon their teammates are scum remember?" she told him, more happiness in her voice than one would expect in this situation. But Sakura felt good. She was going to protect somebody she cared for. And she had friends to back her up this time. This was what being a shinobi was. This was what she aspired to be. This was a team. **'Cha! Lets kick some ass!'**

* * *

Okay. So maybe his teammates deserved a little credit. Sasuke expected Sakura to cry and Naruto to scamper away with his tail between his legs. When he'd looked at them, he wasn't met with their backs as they ran away with Tazuna. He was instead met with determined looks that told him they weren't leaving either. The clone walked onto land, sword drawn at the ready. They couldn't just stand there by their client and wait to be attacked. Sasuke took the first move, driving forward. The clone swung his blade -granted slightly slower than the original- at the boy in a motion that would have cut him in half. Sasuke jumped into the air, coming down with his kunai aimed at the clone's head. "You call yourself a ninja?" the clone reached up and snatched him out of the air as if he were catching a baseball. The fake's meaty hand wrapped around Sasuke's neck painfully, cutting off air momentarily. "Sasuke!" He heard Sakura yell in worry. The clone threw the boy just as easily as it had caught him, sending Sasuke skidding to the ground a good ten feet away.

When he started to sit up, he was met with the sight of Naruto charging at the water clone, only to be easily kicked backward. The kick was hard enough to send Naruto rolling across the ground as well as knock his hitai-ate off his head. It wasn't a second later that Naruto was up and charging again. That idiot! Did he really think charging head on towards a jonin was going to get him anywhere? As soon as Naruto got close, the clone punched downwards, catching Naruto's head and sending him face first into the dirt. Naruto reached towards the clone's foot only to have his shoulder kicked and sent backward. "Naruto! You can't charge head on like that, what were you thing...king?" Sakura's scolding sputtered out just as Sasuke noticed the smile spread across Naruto's blood stained lips. He lifted his hand up in celebration, wrapped in his fingers, was his hitai-ate. _'You've got to be kidding me'_ Sasuke thought. He got himself beat up on purpose for that?

"A village hokage must be strong, collected, and always represent his village." Naruto pushed himself to a stand, tying his hitai-ate around his forehead "A hitai-ate is the heart of the village and must always be worn by ninja. Especially the hokage...And the next hokage is going to be me, Naruto Uzumaki" the blonde shouted, a fire alight in his eyes. Sasuke nearly rolled his eyes. Of course this would lead to another speech about being hokage. Yet...Something about the way Naruto spoke hit him. He'd never seen the dobe this serious before, it was like the kid turned a new leaf then and there. "Sasuke, I have a plan" he muttered with a smirk, wiping the blood from his mouth. Sasuke couldn't resist returning the smirk "So, finally learned the concept of teamwork dobe?" he asked tauntingly. Naruto stepped toward him to tell him his 'plan' when the blonde suddenly went flying in the opposite direction. In his place was the clone with his it's leg held out, he'd obviously kicked Naruto in the gut.

"Are you even ninja? I was kind enough to allow you your little speech. But do you honestly think I'd just stand here and let you converse about whatever half-assed plan the blonde thought up?" the clone asked with a laugh. Sasuke growled and lunged, expecting the kick towards his chest he ducked and went for the remaining leg, hoping to knock the clone off it's feet. Instead, the broad side of a long steel blade plunged into the ground right in front of his face, Sasuke could see some of his bangs drift to the ground as he put his hands against the plane to stop himself from headbutting the weapon. Sasuke looked up to see the clone balancing on one hand on the handle of the sword, both feet now in the air. Sasuke didn't have a chance to move when the clone launched from it's perch to land on his back, sending him to the ground with the wind knocked out of him.

"Sasuke!" this time he heard Naruto as well. The clone placed it's foot onto the young Uchiha's back once more. It pressed down until Sasuke audibly groaned, if it added any more pressure he was sure his ribs would crack. The clone didn't press down any harder, instead, made sure Sasuke was securely pinned. The Uchiha realized this and tried to squirm out from under the large boot, but his body wouldn't budge. Sasuke was forced to lay there helplessly as the clone raised it's sword, ready to behead him. "No!" Sasuke heard Naruto yell just before somebody crashed straight into the clone's chest, sending it staggering backwards. The Uchiha quickly got to his feet, pulling a kunai and looking for the clone and Naruto. To his surprise. Naruto wasn't the one currently separating himself from the clone. He was with a head of pink hair standing defensively in front of him. "Sakura..." he hadn't even realized he uttered her name.

* * *

"Sakura..." said girl couldn't risk looking back at Sasuke as he acknowledged her. In fact, she was ninety percent sure she'd only been able to push Zabuza's clone off of him due to the fact that she'd used absolutely no ninja finess in her actions. Sakura had panicked, Sasuke was about to be beheaded for Kami's sake! She'd simply lunged forward, throwing all of her weight right into the clone's chest and sending him barely a foot backwards. The clone looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. Sakura felt her eyes narrow. Here, even her enemy hadn't taken her into account. He'd simply cast her aside as defenseless along with the bridge builder. "Sasuke-kun, Naruto..." she uttered, lifting a kunai in front of her defensively "just...make it quick". If Naruto had a plan, they'd need to try it. And in order to get his plan across, somebody needed to distract the clone. **'Lets show him just how _defenseless_ we are!'** Sakura and her inner's thoughts synchronized causing the girl to smirk before risking the first move.

Okay...Taking the first move against a jonin...Not a good idea. Sakura could safely say that little confidence boost skewed her logic just slightly...To the point where she thought a kunai may be able to hold against a broadsword. Nope...Sakura was currently on the ground, having been smart enough to drop down when her senses returned in the middle of the clone's swing. Her temporarily suspended kunai was nearly cut in half, breaking into fragments of metal. The pinkette gulped...That was very nearly her head

The sword came down vertically next, forcing Sakura to log roll to the side. The gigantic blade stuck into the ground, leaving the pinkette to come face to face with her reflection in the broad side of the weapon. Sakura couldn't help but glance to the side, trying to see if Naruto and Sasuke were done yet. She really didn't see herself winning this fight...Even if this was only a clone. "You shouldn't take your eye off your opponent" a familiar raspy voice scolded. Sakura whipped her head back around only to be met with a strong knee to the temple. A hit like that would've rattled her if it had been a normal adult's strength...The added strength of a nina sent her skipping across the dirt like a stone on water. Her vision was blurry for a moment as she pushed herself to her feet, legs slightly wobbling as she did so. Sakura inwardly cursed herself for being so stupid. She most likely had a concussion after that strike. Before Sakura could completely get her bearings, the clone was charging.

_'Oh...I know! Lets challenge the same jonin that incapacitated your sensei with only a kunai! I'm sure it'll be fine!'_ Sakura's thoughts rang bitterly in her head as she dodged a horizontal swipe of it's blade. _'Better yet, lets try to fight him with a pounding, concussion driven headache and our bare hands...Sound good? Great! What the heck are those two doing!?'_ she thought, ducking down and letting the broadsword swing overhead. Quickly, the rosette kicked her foot up, hitting the sole of her sandal against the flattened sword. The result was the clone's arm going back with the weight of the heavy object...And a sharp pain shooting up Sakura's leg. Still, the little pinkette couldn't help but smile, she'd effectively countered one of his attacks, and managed to last this long without being sliced in half...That said...She still missed the hand coming for her throat.

"Sakura-chan!" she heard Naruto yell as a vice-like grip closed around her throat. One's initial reaction was to drop everything and attempt to pry the hand away. Luckily as Sakura's hand started to fumble, she kept a grip on her kunai. This was a shinobi, she wasn't going to be able to just pry his hand away. The clone started to tighten his grip, slowly closing off Sakura's airway. _Shulk, shulk, shulk' _three kunai hit the clone simultaneously. Sakura had jammed her kunai into the forearm holding her in an attempt to free herself, while two kunai -each thrown by her teammates- embedded themselves into it's back. For a moment, the clone froze. Then started to turn clear, losing it's shape and sloshing to the ground with Sakura.

The pinkette coughed, getting some air back in her lungs dizzily as she looked at the puddle of water. They'd done it, they'd beaten Zabuza's water clone. "Sasuke! Catch!" she heard Naruto yell out. Sakura's head snapped to the side to see Naruto throwing Sasuke a windmill shurikun. Her eyebrows furrowed as Sasuke did an unnecessary spin around himself and threw the enlarged weapon at the real Zabuza. "Pathetic" the man muttered as he easily dodged the weapon. What he didn't expect to hear was the _poof_ behind him as the shurikun transformed into Naruto; whom quickly whipped a kunai at the mildly surprised man. Zabuza had no choice but to parry the kunai and lost his concentration. There was a sloshing sound before Sakura saw Kakashi gain a grip on Zabuza's arm. The mist nin's eyes widened for a moment before he smirked. "They threw me off with such a simple trick. Guess I shouldn't have played as much" he said casually. "Don't act so cocky. We both know they tricked you. You were just shown up by a group of genin" and with that, Kakashi somersaulted backward on the water surface, sending Zabuza skipping across the water.

Sakura couldn't believe it. Not only had that plan been clever and well executed -obviously as they'd managed to free her sensei- but it was Naruto of all people that had come up with it! And he'd worked with Sasuke! Sakura was starting to think that she'd passed out from air loss and dreamed the whole thing. But what happened next...She couldn't have dreamed. Naruto was swimming back to shore as Sasuke smirked, but over to the side, Zabuza and Kakashi were once again fighting. Zabuza started throwing down hand signals, making the water bubble around him. What was odd, was Kakashi seemed to be making the same exact signals...At the same exact time. That was odd...Did Kakashi just know his technique? Both men finished their signs at the same time. As soon as they did, two gigantic dragons took form, blasting out of the water at each other. All the pinkette could do was watch in awe as they hit each other, colliding with so much pressure she was sure that if somebody had been between them they would've been blown apart.

Looking over at the boys, Sakura could see Naruto and Sasuke staring as well. Naruto had even paused in the process of lifting himself out of the water. The water that previously made the dragons dropped back into the water, creating a gigantic wave...That was coming right towards them. Sakura shook her head to snap herself out of her trance -which ended up being a bad idea with her current concussion- and yelled to Naruto "Get out of the water!" the blonde scurried up onto shore...But it didn't seem to make a difference as the towering wave broke over the edge of the lake, engulfing first Naruto, then Sasuke, then Sakura herself. The female of team seven found herself being blasted backwards, her back hit a tree causing her to lose what little breath she'd been able to hold when the water hit. Then she felt her head come in contact with the tree trunk.

When the rest of the wave passed overhead Sakura sank to the ground slowly. She spat out the water she'd unconsciously taken into her mouth and breathed heavily at the base of the tree. Her vision was blurring up a bit and her head hurt worse than before. Yet, Sakura knew she had to stand. She pushed against the base of the tree to get to her feet...Only to find herself teetering to the side much like a baby deer. Her legs were not listening to what she was telling them to do and collapsed underneath her. Black spots started to fill into her line of sight. The pinkette knew that this from all the hits to the head, she still had a fair storage of her chakra, she shouldn't be puttering out like this. The black dots continued to close in. The last thing Sakura thought about, was how disappointed her team was going to be in her. How she was proving just how weak she was.

* * *

**I had some inner turmoil about ending this chapter. One, just writing it was a little tough for me because of how weak I knew I had to make our favorite three genin. I can't wait to get farther into the story where they start to develop their real skills! Anyway, I settled on Sakura passing out due to a concussion for many reasons. One. I've realized that throughout the fights in Naruto; Characters are taking such heavy blows. Ones that would be giving concussions and breaking bones. I figured to make it more realistic, I'd throw in such injuries at least in the beginning. After all, I figure a ninja would have to train to take hits to strengthen their bodies for the punishment that would be coming in fights. Sakura is a genin on her first mission and hadn't been training properly beforehand...She would certainly gain a concussion after a direct hit to the temple from a jonin. **

**My other reason for knocking Sakura out. Is that from here on out, the fight would pretty much go as it did in the manga. As much as I'd love to have team seven come in and beat the real Zabuza, that just isn't realistic at the moment. As strong as I'd love to make them...They can't even walk on trees yet -ahem, spoiler for next chapter-. Hope you all enjoyed my next chapter and continue reading my story. I can't thank you all enough for sticking with me and giving me such wonderful feedback!**


End file.
